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snowdice · 4 years ago

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Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 51]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

I have some editing to do, so I’m going to do a bit of this.

Chapter 21

Virgil woke with something soft but kind of stringy in his face. That was weird. He didn’t know what in the closet would feel like that. In fact, as he woke more he noticed more things that he couldn’t sus out the origin of, particularly the warmth curled up against his side. Curious, he blinked open his eyes. Oh, right. Patton.

The soft stuff in his face was Patton’s hair and the warmth next to Virgil was the rest of the boy’s body. Patton had all but refused to let Virgil go last night after Logan had taken off the restraints and Virgil hadn’t minded the attention. They must have fallen asleep together in the piles of pillows and blankets on the floor.

Virgil brushed his hair gently away, internally (for fear of disturbing him) shaking his head at him. He’d fallen asleep hallway on top of an assassin. He had no self-preservation instincts. He looked at his wrists. It seemed no one had any self-preservation instincts. This of course, included himself as instead of running off when free in case they decided to turn him in after all, he had fallen asleep on the floor with Patton too.

He looked to the side and saw Logan was already awake, reading on one of his chairs. He seemed to sense Virgil’s eyes on him because he looked up after a moment.

“You can get up if you like,” Logan said. “He is a heavy sleeper and won’t wake up if you squirm out of his grip.”

Virgil frowned, unsure if he wanted to risk it.

“I have breakfast ready for you.”

Okay, Virgil was going to risk it.

He carefully squirmed out of Patton’s grip, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead in apology for leaving him before getting to his feet.

Logan handed him a plate of eggs and toast when he walked over and gestured to the chair next to him. Virgil sat there to eat while Logan continued to read.

Virgil ate his food quickly, and then glanced over at Logan once he was done. Virgil was honestly at a bit of a loss. Usually, they came and got him out of the closet only once they were ready to do something, but Patton was still sound asleep on the floor and Logan looked engrossed in his book.

Virgil fidgeted slightly, unsure what he should be doing or even if he should be doing anything. Considering Logan hadn’t given him any instructions, he should probably not do anything. He didn’t want to screw up the first day of… whatever this was now.

Logan glanced over at him after a few minutes. “Don’t forget about the potion,” he reminded.

Virgil nodded and stood, walking over to the closet since it would still be in there from the previous morning. It was about half gone now and it had gotten to the point where Virgil didn’t feel any immediate affects from it anymore other than some warmth. It basically just felt like drinking tea.

He said as much to Logan when he walked back over to him.

“That’s good,” Logan said, “it means it has been working. It has healed any damage it can from malnutrition. Any internal organs that were damaged should be mostly healed. You may even notice your eyesight getting slightly better. Your immune system should also be boosted. You will likely also find it is easier to gain muscle and while you likely will never be as tall as you could have been, you will likely still grow a few inches during your next growth spirt.”

Virgil studied his hands where they were sitting on his thigh now as though he could see the changes that allegedly had already taken place in his body. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” Logan replied, eyes already back on his book like it was some normal thing and not a huge kindness he’d bestowed on Virgil before even really knowing him. As though Virgil didn’t just owe him more than just his life going forward.

They sat in silence then for a few more minutes, before the was a soft sigh from the floor and Patton started to wake. He sat up and looked around. His eyes landed on both Virgil and Logan sitting together and he seemed to light up.

“Good morning!” he chirped.

“Good morning, Patton,” Logan said as Patton popped to his feet, “I have breakfast for you.”

“Thank you Lo,” Patton said, throwing his arms around Logan’s neck, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Virgil presumed from the lack of surprise on Logan’s face that this was normal for morning Patton, not that the fact surprised him considering how night Patton acted.

He still managed to be somewhat surprised by the fact that Patton turned to hug Virgil a second later. Patton’s lips were pressed briefly to Virgil’s head and then he turned to grab the plate Logan had saved for him.

“So, what are we doing today?” Patton asked.

“I was thinking Virgil and I could continue our reading lessons if he is not opposed,” Logan said. Virgil nodded, happy with that prospect. “Other than that, I have no plans. I have already spoken with my father before the two of you woke. He is going to spend most of his day catching up on things he missed and said I could take the rest of the day off royal duties.”

“A whole day to relax then!” Patton said, happily chewing on his toast. “Reading sounds fun, but we should do something more active too.”

Logan hummed. “We can show Virgil the courtyard after the reading lessons,” he said.

It took a moment for it to register, but then Virgil froze. “Wait,” he said. “We’re going outside?”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes.”

“So, we’re leaving your room?”

“Are you alright with that?” Logan asked cautiously.

Virgil nodded quickly.

“Oh,” Patton said at his enthusiasm. “I guess you have been cooped up a while, haven’t you?” He smiled sadly and turned to Logan. “Maybe we can do reading lessons in the garden.”

“That would be satisfactory.”

“Great!” Patton said. He looked over at Virgil. “If we’re going out, we should probably put your hair up and get you in some clean clothes.”

Logan nodded. “You finish eating, and I will help Virgil find something to wear.”

Logan found him an outfit, though it was a bit baggy on Virgil and the hem of the shirt went halfway to his knees. When Patton finished breakfast, he sat Virgil down and carefully worked a brush through his hair.

“Can I braid it?” Patton asked.

Virgil hummed his consent. Having his hair brushed and done up by another person was a lot more enjoyable than he’d anticipated. He’d liked it when Logan did it the night before, though he had to very firmly push away thoughts of where that led.

“Okay!” Patton said after a few moments. “You look good. Ready to go?”

Virgil nodded and they both led him out into the hall. He paused before they got to the door. “What about the guards?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve already given them the same story as I did Dad,” Logan replied. “They know you’re here.”

Virgil still hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Patton promised. “Here, hold my hand?”

Virgil took the offered hand immediately, and Logan stepped in front of them both. Virgil felt himself relax a bit knowing the prince was between him and the guards.

They led him to the door.

Logan greeted both of the guards at the door, and they said good morning back. Both of them glanced at Virgil curiously for a moment making him shrink into himself, but they quickly averted their gazes.

Patton pulled him past them without incident and soon they were in the small dining hall Virgil had passed through his first night here. He remembered how he’d snuck around at the edges of the room in the shadows with the aim to kill the king, but now he was being pulled through the middle with the prince having just wandered past the royal guards in broad daylight like it was nothing.

It was so strange, and Virgil still couldn’t totally believe this was happening. The retraced his exact steps back down the spiral stairs near the kitchen and out of the door he and the nice gardener had came through. He could even see the shed he’d been hiding in from here. With a blink, he remembered they were going to the garden, and he wondered if he’d see the man again.

For now, he just looked around them as Logan and Patton led him past the garden shed towards an area with many trees. Orange and yellow leaves were starting to fall from many of the trees.

They made a satisfying crunching sound under his feet as he was led to a tree. He had seen the group of trees when he’d first arrived here and had even thought about hiding amongst them instead of in the shed, but they’d seemed scary in the dark. They were pretty in the daylight, however, and Virgil found himself tilting his head to watch the branches sway in the slight wind.

Logan sat down under it and pulled out a book and some writing materials from the bag he’d brought. Virgil settled down next to him so they could both look at the book at the same time and Patton flopped down on the other side, immediately setting to work tying fancy knots in the yarn he’d brought with him. Patton shuffled slightly to the side so they bumped shoulders as Logan opened the book and started Virgil’s reading lesson.

Chapter 22

Patton bit his lip to keep from laughing or awing. “Do you like the flower, Virgil?” he asked.

Virgil glanced up at him briefly and then his eyes returned to the flower he’d found. “It’s nice,” he said.

They’d finished the reading lessons and let Virgil explore the garden a bit. He’d found a dark purple and yellow flower (a pansy, Patton thought) and seemed to be endlessly fascinated by it. He’d been staring at it for minutes now, almost as though he expected it to do something. Patton did not quite understand his interest, but he was still adorable.

Logan sat next to him and the flower, smiling at him softly. “I imagine you’ll enjoy the garden in the spring,” Logan said. “There are many more flowers then. Of all types. We’ll have to show you all of the best spots. Mr. Deknis has a particularly good eye for colors, and it is always quite beautiful.”

“Who is Mr. Deknis?” Virgil asked.

“He’s the head gardener,” Logan said. “He’s a nice man, though a bit prickly when it comes to his garden. We may see him today if he’s in this part of the garden.”

“Would he have been the multrum I saw in the gardening shed when I hid there?”

“Ah, yes, that would be him. I was unaware you interacted with anyone in the castle.”

“He caught me in his garden shed, but he wasn’t mean,” Virgil said, he tilted his head curiously at Logan. “Why…” he trailed off.

“Yes?” Logan asked.

“Why is he the gardener?”

Logan looked confused, “Well,” he said, “I guess because he wants to and is good at it.”

“No,” Virgil said with a frown. “I mean. Shouldn’t he… he’s…”

Logan seemed to think hard for a moment. “Right,” he said. “You’ve been under a blood compulsion. I’d guess you would have only worked with multrums in the military.”

“I guess I didn’t realize that they could be other things…”

“Of course, they can,” Logan said. “Their abilities don’t make them any less of people. Mr. Deknis likes to garden so he gardens.”

Virgil blinked at him.

“…Of course, all things considered, that may not be a familiar concept to you.” Virgil turned back to look at the flower instead of answering. “Right,” said Logan.

There were a couple of awkward beats of silence. Patton bit his lip and happened to glance up. “Oh,” he said. “Speaking of Mr. Deknis.” He gestured to the gardener who was coming up the path between the trees.

Logan sat up on his knees as Patton waved at him. He saw Patton and turned to walk towards them. “The two of you had better not be up to mischief in my garden,” Mr. Deknis called, his voice a bit gruff. He clearly did not see Virgil who had laid flat on his stomach to stare at the flower.

Logan rolled his eyes automatically. “We were just reading Mr. Deknis,” he said. “Your piles of dirt are safe.”

“No mud cakes?” Mr. Deknis asked skeptically still coming towards them.

“It has been a literal decade…”

Patton saw when Mr. Deknis was close enough to see Virgil.

He stopped in his track and looked down at Virgil who was already watching him a bit warily. “Hello,” he said, his voice a lot softer than it’d been a few moments before. His expression completely flipped in a moment to something very gentle when he saw Virgil and the cautious look on his face. Virgil did seem to have that effect on people.

“Hi,” Virgil replied.

Mr. Deknis looked at Logan and then at Patton and then back at Virgil. “This is our new friend, Virgil,” Patton offered.

“Hello, Virgil,” Mr. Deknis said with a nod.

“Virgil, this is the gardener Mr. Deknis.”

“He’s not nearly as grumpy as he sounds,” Patton assured.

“Well,” Logan said, “yes he is.”

Mr. Deknis shot him a look that only served to prove Logan’s point if Patton was being honest. Logan just smiled back. Mr. Deknis apparently decided to let it slide because he turned back to Virgil.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mr. Deknis said. “Are you feeling better?”

Virgil nodded. “I’m a lot better,” he said. Mr. Deknis considered him for a moment, clearly reading how true that statement was. Patton was glad he seemed satisfied with the answer.

“I see you’ve met these two.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

Mr. Deknis smiled slightly. “Be careful with this one,” he said, pointing to Logan. “He’s a bad influence.”

Virgil frowned in confusion. “He’s the prince,” he pointed out.

“And a bad influence,” Mr. Deknis repeated. “He’s a beacon of irresponsibility and mischief and he corrupts that one,” he nodded to Patton.

“I am completely responsible,” Logan replied.

“Need I remind you of the cucumber incident.”

“I was 8,” Logan said.

“I know how old you were,” Mr. Deknis replied, “and you are hardly any older.”

“I resent that.”

Mr. Deknis just smiled and turned back to Virgil who was watching the interaction with pure curiosity.

“I just picked a few more of those apples for Patton’s mom to make into apple sauce. Would you kids like some?”

Virgil glanced over at Logan and Patton.

“That would be nice, thank you,” Patton replied for them all, standing up. Seeing that, Virgil also climbed to his feet.

“It’s back this way,” Mr. Deknis said, inclining hid head back the way he’d came and then turning to lead them that way. Patton followed him. He glanced back to see Logan put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder and give him a gentle push to get him going. “So, what are you kids up to today?”

“We wanted to show Virgil the garden and courtyard,” Patton said. “He’s been cooped up inside for a bit.”

“I see,” Mr. Deknis said. He glanced back at Virgil. “Feel free to come out in the garden anytime you like. As long as you don’t go about purposefully destroying stuff, I don’t mind you being out here.”

“I won’t destroy anything,” Virgil promised instantly.

“Well I hope you manage to keep that attitude even while befriending the large upright groundhog behind you.”

Virgil looked a little bit nervous. “He’s just teasing Virgil,” Patton assured. “He loves Logan.”

Mr. Deknis glanced back again and seemed to read the same thing Patton had read on Virgil’s face.

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Deknis said. “I have simply known the prince for a long time and joke with him in that way often. Logan is aware of that.”

“Indeed,” Logan agreed, his hand squeezing a bit on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil relaxed a touch.

Mr. Deknis stopped and reached down into a bucket next to a tree. “I wouldn’t offer my apples to people I don’t like,” he said, tossing an apple underhand to Logan. Instead of trying to catch it, his eyes widened and he dodged out of the way.

“You would however throw apples at them despite knowing they have never been able to catch things.”

Mr. Deknis just rolled his eyes fondly, but Virgil frowned and turned to Logan. “You don’t know how to catch things?” he asked scandalized. “You should know how to catch things. What if someone throws a knife at you?”

Mr. Deknis looked… probably the right amount of concerned about that statement coming from a 14-year-old’s lips.

“Haha, yeah,” Patton said awkwardly. “Maybe you can teach Logan how to catch things Virgil, but later. Right now, why don’t we just get the apples and then show you the courtyard.”

Virgil was still frowning, but he did not argue with Patton’s suggestion.

Thankfully, Mr. Deknis did not push, though Patton did have to dodge many a meaningful side eye. He might… need to make sure he did not get cornered by the gardener in the coming days… or brush up on his lying without lying skills.

For now, though, he just handed out the apples, not tossing them this time. Virgil thanked him softly and Patton could see the way the usually fairly gruff man went all melty at that. He even slipped an extra apple to Virgil for later which Virgil perked up at.

Patton and Logan pulled him away gently after that so Mr. Deknis could go back to work, but Virgil seemed happy with the apples and copied Patton at waving goodbye to him cheerfully.

Despite the fact that he liked Mr. Deknis and he’d been nice, Patton still took a calming breath when they were no longer at risk of lying about something and getting caught by the man’s powers. They went back into the castle towards the courtyard.

Chapter 23

Logan was unsurprised that after showing Virgil the large courtyard, Patton almost immediately decided to instigate a game of tag. They were, after all, here with the goal of getting Virgil a bit active after having had him only in Logan’s room for weeks.

He was also unsurprised that Virgil seemed confused about the concept of tag, and Patton had to explain the game in detail to him.

It made him wince, but he still was unsurprised when Virgil went about inquiring after the consequences of losing the game.

He was, however, very surprised when, after getting all of the facts about tag settle, Patton was chasing after Virgil trying to tag him and suddenly the boy disappeared.

Patton almost ran into a wall in his confusion. He stared at his hands stretched out and just a couple of inches from touching the wall for a moment, before slowly looking up.

“Virgil!” Patton exclaimed. “What?”

“What?” he asked.

“…What are you even hanging onto?”

“The wall,” Virgil replied.

Logan walked closer to the two of them and tilted his head up to look at him. Virgil had jumped up and somehow managed to find hand and foot holes on the seemingly smooth wall. He climbed about 5 meters above their heads and was peering down at them curiously.

“Okay,” Logan said. “New rule. Virgil is not allowed to scale walls during tag.”

Virgil frowned down at him. “Why only me?”

“Because Patton and I cannot do that anyway,” Logan said. “We would not be able to actually play if you remain up there.”

Patton glanced over at him and reached over to touch Logan’s shoulder. “No tag backs,” he said. Logan glared at him. “Why don’t you come down sweetie?”

“But Logan will tag me,” he said.

“Well, honey, that’s part of the fun,” Patton reasoned. “Don’t you want to try being it?”

Virgil seemed to consider this for a long moment. “Okay,” he agreed.

To Logan’s terror, he simply let go of the wall, falling straight down and landing crouched. He blinked at Logan. Right. With a start, Patton took off, so he’d have a head start. “No tag backs means a 10 second head start for me,” Logan reminded. Virgil nodded, and Logan reached out to poke him in the arm before immediately running off in the opposite direction as Patton.

Logan’s strategy worked out since, knowing he couldn’t go after Logan for a few seconds more, he chose to turn and go after Patton. After finding one of the statues to hide behind on the edge of the courtyard, Logan risked glancing back.

Virgil was faster than Logan (and likely Patton) had accounted for. Patton had gotten a good head start on him, but Virgil closed it quickly. Patton shrieked as Virgil barreled into him, bringing them both to the ground.

“Virgil!” Logan heard Patton giggle. Logan figured he was more than okay despite the tackle. “This isn’t how you play tag!”

“I combined tag and tackle hugs,” Virgil declared, making Patton giggle more.

“That’s very innovative, honey,” Patton said. “Now are you going to let me up?...Virgil… I’m counting down your 10 second head start in my head, and if you don’t let me up I’m going to tag you again.”

This did not seem to have the intended effect as Virgil did not remove himself from Patton’s person. Patton laugh when it became clear he was not going to move and began counting down “7, 6, 5, 4, you’d better let me go sweetie, or you’re going to get tagged again.” Virgil did not seem to care. “3, 2, 1.” Patton reached up and bopped him on the nose. “Tag!” he declared.

Logan was surprised when Virgil instantly jumped off Patton at that. He whipped around.

‘Oh,’ Logan thought as the boy’s eyes narrowed in on Logan immediately, ‘I see.’

“Virgil was already halfway across the courtyard towards him before Logan could even think about running away. There was no way that he was fast enough to outrun him. Perhaps he could outthink him, he thought. His eyes scanned his environment in the seconds he had left and landed on a large square piece of stone that held flowers in the spring. It was just full of dirt now, but it was still about waist high. Perhaps if he kept that between them, he could outmaneuver him. He sprinted towards it and scrambled to the opposite side from where Virgil was heading.

He really should not have been as surprised as he was that Virgil did not even slightly slow as he approached the planter box, instead grabbing ahold of the side of it and vaulting over it. Logan stumbled back, bracing for impact, but instead he just got a quick tap on the shoulder.

Logan blinked at him.

“I don’t know if you would be okay with tackle hugs,” he explained.

Logan considered him. “I would be okay with a nontackle hug.”

Virgil happily jumped forward to hug Logan, pressing his nose into Logan’s shoulder. Logan chuckled and patted the top of his head. “Six,” he said, “5, 4, 3…”

Virgil bolted away suddenly, actually making Logan stumble a bit. He paused just out of reach of Logan, looking at him with anticipation. “2,1,” Logan finished with a raised eyebrow. He already knew he was being played with, but he indulged him by starting towards him. Virgil danced out of the way, eyes alight. Logan sighed. “Is this truly how it’s going to be?” he asked.

Virgil didn’t answer, but to watch him with wide, excited eyes.

“Fine,” Logan said. He dashed towards him again, only to have him continue to maneuver just out of Logan’s reach each time Logan went forward. He’d call it taunting if there was any sign of malice in it.

They ran around the courtyard in spirts of Logan charging at him and Virgil expertly dodging. Eventually Patton came closer to them. Logan could tell that Virgil was aware of his presence, by how he glanced back at him briefly, but considering he was not ‘it,’ it seemed he chose to disregard him. However, he was not aware of the way Patton winked at Logan as he walked up behind Virgil.

Logan, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. He went to spring for Virgil again, and Virgil again moved to dodge, but this time Patton grabbed him around the waist, allowing Logan to actually tag him.

He turned slowly to face Patton who started to giggle immediately at the perplexed look on his face. It cleared into something else as soon as he heard Patton laugh. “Traitor!” he claimed. “We were on the same team and you betrayed me.”

“I just thought we should probably have mercy on poor Logan,” Patton replied.

“Hmm,” Virgil said, eyes again full of that playful mischief Logan had not seen until today. “Plea for mercy not accepted.”

Patton once again half-shrieked half-laughed as he was pounced on. The two of them went rolling across the grass, Virgil clearly keeping the rolling going longer than it should have as they made it a good few meters.

Virgil sprung off of him a few moments later.

“Oh, is it my turn?” Patton inquired with a huge smile. He slowly got to his feet. “Hmm, I’m probably at about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” He took off after Virgil, but Patton had a bit more endurance than Logan, so instead of doing quickly calculated lunges at Virgil as Logan had done, he just ran at him full tilt without stopping.

Virgil ran from him, though Logan was pretty sure he was intentionally slowing himself down a bit so Patton had some amount of a chance. He kept turning to check behind him and make sure Patton was still somewhat close as he ran.

Which is why he didn’t see the imminent disaster in time.

Chapter 24

Thomas should have been paying more attention, but his mind had been on the meeting he’d just had with the castle guards about increased security in the wake of the possible threat from Mocnejsi. He’d decided to take a brief walk around the courtyard to clear his head but was still distracted with mulling over the options that had just been presented to him. He stepped into the castle courtyard and did not have time to step out of the way of the much smaller body rocketing towards him. Virgil slammed into his front, but not before Thomas got a good look at his face.

Virgil’s expression changed dramatically in the few seconds between him registering Thomas was there and running into him. For the briefest moment, Thomas could see that he must have been having a lot of fun. He’d caught the wide smile and sparkling eyes as Virgil turned his head back from looking at Patton who was chasing him across the greenery. He’d looked very happy which made it all the more painful to see that happiness die in and a few instants. When his head had turned back towards Thomas, there was a flicker of confusion at something being in his path.

Then, clearly everything about the situation registered, because his eyes blew wide in horror as he tried to stop himself, but there was no way he’d be able to in time. Thomas saw that fact register on his face the moment before he hit. Gone was any trace of happiness or joy in that split second. All that was left was dread that had no place anywhere near a children’s game of tag. It was the expression Thomas would expect from someone who felt ice give way under their feet in the middle of a lake they had thought was frozen solid.

He hit hard, but he wasn’t nearly big enough to actually harm Thomas. Thomas was thrown slightly off balance but managed to stay on his feet. He reached out a hand to his shoulder automatically to steady the child. There was a moment of pseudo calm where they both absorbed the impact and stilled.

Then, the boy’s shoulder slipped out of Thomas’s grip as he went crashing to the ground in a move that made Thomas wince for the state of his knees. Thomas couldn’t quite grasp what was happening for a moment as Virgil face planted onto the ground in front of him, but when he did, Thomas couldn’t help but flinch and take a step back from him.

Thomas had been bowed to before, of course, seeing as he was a king, but this was not out of respect or courtesy or even just tradition. This was out of terror. He was begging for mercy and it made Thomas feel sick.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meek and shaky into the ground, and there was almost something worse about the fact that he did not beg for forgiveness with his words, but only his posture. The way his breathes came far too quick and shallow said he was likely on the verge of a panic attack, but he was not blubbering through apologies or even not speaking at all. He gave a clear, if shaky, apology, and waited for whatever he thought Thomas planned to do to him. There was no way that was not learned.

“You don’t…” Thomas stuttered. “You don’t have to do that. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but he reacted in no other way. He did not even react when Patton made it to his side and knelt down next to him. Patton’s hand hovered over his back, clearly wanting to touch down, but he pulled back on that instinct.

“Virgil, honey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. No one is mad. It was an accident.”

Virgil did not react to this at all.

Thomas caught Logan’s eye as he hurried over to them himself. “Sorry,” Thomas mouthed. Logan just nodded and turned his attention to his friend.

“There is no reason for any of that,” Logan said, his voice firm, almost clipped. “You are not in trouble. Now sit up.”

Virgil did respond to that, slowly shifting back on his knees. He kept his head down looking at the ground. “Sorry,” he said again.

“I…” Thomas said, surveying the three kids on the ground in front of him. Thomas slowly sunk to the ground to be at their level. Virgil was tracking his movements out of the corner of his eyes, his head still bowed and his shoulders tensed. “Hey,” Thomas said softly. “Were you three playing tag?”

Virgil hesitated, eyes flickering as he debated whether he should respond or not.

“Yeah, we were,” Patton answered for him after a moment of stressful silence.

“Well that’s fun,” Thomas said. “I’m sorry for interrupting the three of you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Virgil glanced up at him for just a moment before looking away again. Patton apparently felt it was safe enough to touch Virgil, because he settled a hand on the boys shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ve just been having a fun day,” Patton said, carefully matching Thomas’s light tone. “We went to the garden and did some reading. Then, Mr. Deknis gave us some apples.”

“That’s nice,” Thomas replied. “He’s been talking about the new apples he’s been growing. He’s been working on them for years and they’re just beginning to bare fruit this year. I haven’t gotten a chance to try any yet. Are they any good?”

“They’re very good,” Patton told him. His hand rubbed slowly on Virgil’s back. “Isn’t that right, Virge?”

Virgil nodded a bit, a little less tense now, but still nowhere near calm.

“Well, I’ll have to try them soon,” Thomas said with a smile. “Thank you for the information. Now, I’ve got to get back to what I’m doing, but I hope you three have a good day.”

“I’ll see you later, Dad,” Logan said.

Thomas nodded and pushed himself to his feet. “Goodbye you three,” he said before turning away towards the door back into the castle. He paused to take a breath when the door closed behind him, cutting off the courtyard. There were a lot of thoughts to shirt through in regards to that conversation. He hated that Virgil was so obviously terrified of him. Both of their two interactions had ended with the poor thing panicking on the ground. He wished he had some idea of how to help him or at least someone to talk to about it.

Maybe he’d go visit Mr. Deknis himself and not just for the apples.

Chapter 25

“Alright,” Patton said, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I’ve got to go back to my room for the night. Will you two be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Logan said. “It won’t be particularly different than the last two weeks.”

Patton nodded and leaned to the side to squeeze Virgil in another hug. He’d been clingy since the incident in the courtyard, and Virgil had been appreciative considering he was still pretty shaky from it. He was still surprised he’d touched the king of Prijaznia (let alone ran into him) and lived to tell the tale.

“Goodnight, Pat,” Virgil said because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t leave if Virgil didn’t.

“Night Virge,” Patton said with a smile before standing up from where they’d been sitting on the ground. He reached over to hug Logan who was sitting on a chair. “Night Lo! Put the book down and go to bed.”

Logan looked up from his book with a frown.

“It’s almost midnight,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and set his book down. “Very well,” he agreed. “We will get ready for bed.”

“You better! I’m going to come and wake you up early in the morning.”

“Early in the morning for you is 9am,” Logan scoffed.

Patton stuck his tongue out at him as he walked backwards out of the door.

Logan gave his book a mournful look once the door closed and Virgil almost giggled. “I won’t tell on you,” he said.

Logan thought about it for a few moments. “No,” he finally said. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Virgil nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

“We should probably both take a bath after sitting in the dirt today,” Logan said. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

“Don’t care,” Virgil answered.

“You can go first,” Logan offered.

Virgil felt himself smile. “You just want to finish the chapter in that book,” he accused.

“Perhaps,” Logan conceded.

Virgil just grinned and walked over to his closet to grab one of the outfits he’d been given for pajamas. He chose a pair of baggy shorts that went past his knees and the huge soft black sweater Logan had found in the back of his closet. He headed into the bathroom, noting Logan had already picked up his book again.

Logan may have declared the both of them dirty enough for bathing a few minutes before, but Virgil was cleaner than he thought he’d ever been before coming to the castle. Logan had taught him how to use the tub and what soaps to use for what a couple of days after he’d arrived and had suggested he clean himself regularly.

Virgil didn’t mind. The tub was enchanted to warm the water inside of it and Virgil loved it. Though, that had the negative affect of making it very difficult to leave.

He cleaned himself up quickly, so he’d have a few minutes to just sit in the water before he felt like he needed to get out and let Logan have a turn. He changed into his pajamas, pulling the crescent shaped protection charm out of his day clothes pocket and storing the warm to the touch stone in the short pocket. He used the clip Patton had made it to pin it to the cloth to make sure he wouldn’t lose it.

Logan was engrossed in his reading by the time that Virgil exited the bathroom. He did not look up as Virgil approached.

“Your turn,” Virgil said to him.

Logan clearly just barely managed to tear his eyes away from the book. “Right,” he said. “Yes.”

“The book will be there in the morning,” Virgil reminded.

“I know,” said Logan sadly as he set the book aside.

Logan never took much time in the bath, so Virgil quickly went about getting ready for bed the rest of the way. He put his day clothes in the basket Logan had for that purpose and started to straighten out the blankets and pillows in the closet.

He heard Logan come back into the room a few minutes later.

“Virgil,” Logan said. “What are you doing?”

Virgil looked over at him. “Getting ready for bed,” he answered, confused.

Logan frowned at him. “You don’t sleep in the closet anymore,” Logan said. “That’s only for when we were worried you might escape.”

“Oh,” Virgil said blinking over at him. “Right.” He felt a slight pulling at his chest. He liked the closet. It was warm and soft. Patton had taken a lot of care with how he’d arranged all of the pillows and blankets. It was the best place he could ever remember having to sleep in his life. Yet, he did not argue. He knew getting to sleep out in the open was supposed to be a reward and he wasn’t about to reject it.

Virgil stood and closed the closet. He tugged on the bottom of his sweater, stretching the fabric between his hands as he watched Logan pull down the covers of his bed and settle down onto it. Cautiously he walked over towards the bed. He wasn’t sure where he should lay down exactly. He dithered for a moment before bending down to sit on the floor near the right side of Logan’s bed and then laying down.

There was shuffling on the bed above him and then Logan’s head popped over the side to squint down at him. “On the bed Virgil,” he said.

Virgil looked up at him in shock. “But it… I’m…” He trailed off and there were a few seconds of silence.

“It is just a bed Virgil,” Logan said.

But it wasn’t ‘just’ anything. Virgil was pretty sure touching the bed of a royal family member without permission would be considered a capital offence. At least, it would in Mocnejsi. Yet, Logan was expecting him to just… crawl into it?

“Please just get up here,” Logan said. Virgil’s caution at touching something he was definitely sure he should not be allowed to be touching wared with his resolve to repay his literal life debt to Logan by doing whatever he wanted.

Feeling honestly a bit sick to his stomach, Virgil slowly pushed himself back to his feet. Logan scooted back over to the left side of the bed, and Virgil cautiously sat down on the empty side of the bed. After a second of hesitation he slowly laid down, his head hitting a soft fluffy pillow. He jumped when Logan flopped the covers on top of both of them.

Virgil took a long moment to absorb the situation while Logan took off his glasses and reached over to turn off the light next to him. He’d never slept in a bed before, or if he had he’d been too young to remember. In the orphanage there was a lack of actual beds due to overcrowding and there had always been someone bigger and stronger that Virgil didn’t dare fight for the use of them. During training, none of the kids had a bed. Only a few of the higher ups had ones at the more permanent training sites. There were very few situations where any of the assassins, at least a Virgil’s level, would be allowed to touch a real bed.

The light switched off, plunging them into darkness.

“Is this…?” Virgil said, eyes still pointed towards the ceiling even though his eyes had not adjusted to the darkness enough to be able to see it. “Do you want… things?”

“Things?” Logan asked.

Virgil did not move his head, but he did reach over and put his hand slightly above Logan’s knee. Logan didn’t move, so Virgil slid his hand up.

Virgil’s wrist was grabbed immediately and pulled firmly away from Logan’s inner thigh. He did not let go afterwards, his fingers squeezing hard, but not quite painfully. “Never,” Logan said, his voice harsher than it had ever been even on the day when Virgil was nothing more than an intruder with deadly intent. “Never offer anything like that to anyone ever again.”

“I was just…”

“I know what you were doing,” Logan said, voice icy, “and it inadmissible. Never offer that again for anything. Do you understand me?”

“I... yes.”

“Promise me.”

Virgil took a short moment to think. “I promise,” he agreed.

“Good,” Logan said, releasing his hand. His voice got softer too. “Good.”

They were silent for a long time after that, though Virgil had no delusions that Logan had fallen asleep. He could almost feel the tension.

“Sorry,” Virgil finally said softly.

“It’s not something you should be apologizing for,” Logan replied. The bed moved as Logan shifted and a hand lightly touched the top of his head. “Just… never.”

“Okay,” Virgil said. He shifted slightly after a moment until his head was in the crook of Logan’s arm. Logan brushed the hair out of his face with the hand that had been on his head.

“Goodnight Virgil,” Logan said.

“Goodnight,” Virgil responded. They were quiet after that, though Virgil was still awake for a while yet and Logan’s hand slowly stroked through his hair for a while. Eventually though, Virgil relaxed into mattress. He stuck his hand into his pocket and curled it around the charm in his pocket. The bed was nice, he thought. It was soft and warm… and safe. He finally fell asleep.

Chapter 26

Patton did their new special knock on the door so Logan and Virgil would know it was just him and they didn’t need to hide the fact that Virgil was sleeping in the prince’s room. He didn’t wait for a response, however, and just shoved open the door. He was surprised to see that Logan was not already out of bed and wondered for a moment if he had broken his promise stayed up way too late reading like he was sometimes known to do. Yet, then, Logan spoke from the bed. “I’m awake,” he called.

Confused, Patton stepped into the room. Logan wasn’t one for lazing around in bed; usually he was out of bed the moment he woke.

He stepped over to the bed and had to stifle a smile when he recognized the problem. Logan was awake, but Virgil was still sleeping, and he was half on top of Logan, his arms wrapped around him.

“Why don’t you just squirm out of his arms like you do me?” Patton asked, keeping his voice low.

“He isn’t like you,” Logan said. He did not bother to quiet himself at all.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked amused.

In answer, Logan started to move as though to squirm out of Virgil’s death grip on him. In response, Virgil made a pitiful mewling sound in his sleep that landed like a piercing blow straight to the heart. Logan stopped moving immediately and Virgil shifted to grip Logan tighter.

“Aw!” Patton said.

“It’s not cute,” Logan insisted. “I’ve been stuck for hours and I have to pee.”

Patton chuckled. “Alright, alright, I’ll save you.” He rounded the bed to Virgil’s side and crawled up on it. “Virgil, honey,” he entreated softly. “I think it’s time for me to get cuddles so Lo can get up.” Patton softly touched Virgil’s shoulder and pulled at him gently. He reached forward to carefully pry Virgil’s arms off of Logan.

Virgil made a more confused than heartbreaking sound this time, turning towards Patton so Patton could wrap his arms around him. Logan managed to scoot towards the edge of the bed.

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Logan made it off the bed and dashed towards the bathroom as Virgil’s arms came around Patton and squeezed. Patton laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. After a few moments, Virgil’s eyes started to flicker a bit.

“Good morning, honey,” Patton said softly. “Did you sleep good?”

He hummed sleepily. “Beds are nice,” he said. Patton felt a slight pang at that because it implied he didn’t get to sleep in beds very much, but he chose to shove that aside.

“They are,” Patton agreed. Virgil’s eyes started to close again. “Honey,” Patton laughed. “I think it’s time to wake up now.”

Virgil made a sleepy whining sound, squeezing Patton tighter. “Don’t you want breakfast?” Patton asked. That question managed to make Virgil open his eyes again. “I was thinking we could go down to the kitchen to eat that way it’s nice and fresh and I can introduce you to Mama real quick.” He neglected to mention the fact that they really did not have a choice. Mr. Deknis had blabbed to Mama about Virgil, and worse, had apparently mentioned that Virgil was skinny. As soon as he’d gotten home yesterday, he’d been met with an already worked up Mama firmly insisting that she meet Virgil sometime today.

He wasn’t going to tell Virgil that though, because he thought it might scare him away from both Mama and Mr. Deknis.

Virgil thought about the prospect of breakfast for a long moment. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll be awake.”

“Good,” Patton said. He reached up to bop him on the nose. Virgil narrowed his eyes and then bopped him back making Patton giggle. He sat up then, and Virgil let him. “Let’s get you something to wear and do your hair,” Patton suggested. Virgil nodded and reluctantly got out of bed, just as Logan returned to the room. “We’re going to go downstairs for breakfast,” Patton told Logan. “That way Virgil can meet my mom.” He gave Logan a significant look and Logan nodded once in understanding that this was not a choice.

Logan and Virgil got dressed, and Patton did Virgil’s hair up nice, before Patton led them out of the royal wing. They went down the main staircase instead of the spiral staircase that went right to the kitchen, mostly because it would be very busy, and Patton thought they should probably eat in the main dining room anyway. He could feel Virgil getting more anxious as they entered the busier part of the castle, and he stuck close to either Patton or Logan from the time they hit the top of the steps all the way to the main dining room.

There were a few people in the dining room already eating breakfast when they arrived. Virgil’s curiosity seemed to temporarily overwhelm his anxiety as he looked around the large hall and at all of the people there. Patton looked around trying to see it through his eyes. He’d been running around this place since he was little, so he never really thought about how big the room was or how grandly it was decorated, but Virgil was just seeing it for the first time. Patton smiled at him as he guided him to one of the seats. There was already muffins on the table so Patton grabbed one and plopped it in front of Virgil.

Virgil frowned down at the muffin dubiously. “You just… keep food out in the open?” he asked.

Right.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Patton promised. “No one here would have put anything in it.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes and looked around at the other occupants of the room suspiciously.

“Honestly,” Logan said. “No one even knew we would be down here for breakfast. Nobody would just put something in random people’s food for no reason.”

Virgil gave him a look like he’d just told him people could in fact breathe under water. Virgil was really from a… whole different world, wasn’t he?

“It’s really fine,” Patton said. “Logan and I have eaten things on the table like this a lot.”

“I’m surprised your not dead yet,” Virgil said.

Logan rolled his eyes and reached for a muffin. Virgil slapped it out of his hand and onto the floor. “Really?” Logan asked.

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him. “No eating unsecured food!”

“Virgil,” Logan groaned.

“I bet you don’t even know what common poisons taste like.”

“No,” Logan said. “I don’t because I don’t worry about being poisoned on a daily basis!”

“You should!”

People were starting to look over at them. Patton shot an awkward smile at the woman a few chairs down.

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“Just don’t eat the muffins Logan,” Patton said under his breath.

“I do not understand why-”

“Because it’s stupid as he-”

“Shush,” Patton commanded out of the corner of his mouth, “people are watching, and Virgil is just a normal castle resident.”

That shut the both of them up at least.

“No muffins for now,” Patton said. “I assume it’s okay to eat the things they bring straight from the kitchen.”

Virgil looked a bit leery of this still, but he nodded.

“Good,” Patton said, “then we’ll just wait for that to get here and then everyone will be happy, right?”

Logan opened his mouth and Patton turned to glare at him.

“Right?”

Logan closed his mouth, though clearly, he did not want to give in so easily. They’d be doubtlessly rehashing this conversation once they were alone again.

Patton caught sight of one of the kitchen workers he knew fairly well come out of the kitchen and deliver food to a group of people who were there before them. She caught sight of them and walked over likely to ask them what they wanted for breakfast. Patton watched out of the corner of his eye as Virgil tensed, eyeing her approach suspiciously and she slowed under his glare.

This was going to be a long breakfast.

Chapter 27

After an, honestly quite aggravating, breakfast full of Virgil’s cognitive distortions about the likelihood of being poisoned, Logan was relieved to finally be able to leave the dining area. In consideration to those serving breakfast, Patton did not lead them through the door in the back of the dining room that went directly to the kitchen, and instead took them out of the room and down the hall to a different entrance. This one had a guard stationed across from it as, despite what Virgil may believe, the castle workers did consider the possibility that someone would want to sneak into the kitchen for nefarious purposes.

Said guard, of course, saw nothing wrong with the prince and the head chef’s son entering the side door even with the bonus stranger. In fact, he may even have known Virgil could be coming through this door if Ms. Heart had mentioned him.

Though Virgil hadn’t managed to catch it, Logan knew enough about Patton’s mother that he’d surmised that she had insisted Patton bring the boy to meet her. It was bound to happen at some point anyway, Logan knew, and he wasn’t particularly worried. After all, this was Patton’s mother. Virgil himself didn’t even seem particularly concerned.

Logan had seen him panic and, while he tugged a bit at the sweater he was wearing, the motion was not particularly fervent, so he was likely just slightly nervous.

Of course, that may be because he did not know Patton’s mother specifically wanted to meet him and just assumed that they were starting the necessary process of introducing him to castle residents with a low risk person.

When they entered the hallway, Logan could already hear the usual noises of the kitchen: the clattering of plates, the bubble of conversation, and the sound of Ms. Heart’s voice calling out instructions.

He did see Virgil hesitate, but Logan couldn’t sus out why and Patton was already ahead of them and opening the door into the kitchen. It was fairly calm for the kitchen considering it was meal hours. Logan imagined that Patton had chosen the time between when the day guards ate breakfast before their shifts and the night guards after their shifts on purpose. There was still a bit of chaos as dishwashers attempted to catch up during the lull and a few orders were still being made, but overall the mood seemed, to Logan at least, to be light as Ms. Heart ordered her kitchen around.

Yet, Virgil clearly did not see the situation the same way that Logan did. He froze when the kitchen door swung open and some of the workers turned to look at them. He took a step back, bumped into Logan, startled violently, realized it was Logan, and then side stepped to hide behind him. Logan looked back at him in confusion, but Virgil said nothing, proceeding to mutely peer over Logan’s shoulder.

Patton had moved over to greet his mother as she wiped her hands off on a rag. She glanced over at Virgil and Logan and Logan saw Virgil shrink back a bit.

Logan could see Ms. Heart’s eyes soften as she tracked his movement. She turned to the woman next to her and said something before moving to remove her apron and hang it up in its designated area. Virgil’s hands clenched in the fabric of Logan’s shirt when she turned back to him.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Logan told him, but Virgil didn’t seem to believe him. Luckily, Patton had turned back and seemed to realize something was amiss.

He stepped back over to them. “Hey, honey,” he said. A plate clattered in the kitchen and Virgil just about ripped Logan’s shirt.

Patton frowned sympathetically. “Too loud?”

“Virgil,” Logan said. “You are digging your fingernails into my skin.” Patton shot Logan a glare. “What?”

“How about,” Patton’s mom suggested. Virgil’s fingernails dug more into Logan’s skin. “We go to my office.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Mama,” Patton said. “Come here, Virgil.” He reached over to touch one of Virgil’s hands and had to pull a bit to get him to release Logan. “It’s back that way, away from the kitchen,” he said when he managed to twine their fingers. He stepped around Logan, probably so there was still a buffer between Virgil and the kitchen and tugged him in the correct direction.

Ms. Heart shot a glance at Logan and Logan felt irrationally like she was trying to read his thoughts. Logan smoothed his features out and turned to follow Patton and Virgil towards her office.

As head chef, Ms. Heart had a small office where she could plan menus without the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and have meeting with people who needed to discuss dietary needs and restrictions. It was very well organized, but still looked fairly messy because of the numbers of decorations she had in it. She had a tendency to keep everything that Patton made her, thus she had his childhood drawings on the wall and little projects stacked on her desk and on the shelves. A lumpy cat statue acted as a paperweight on a stack of papers on her desk and there was a vase of fake flowers (as it could not actually hold water) sat near the window.

By the time Logan entered the room, Patton was trying to coax Virgil into sitting down on one of the two mismatched chairs, but Virgil was having none of it. He had turned to face the door and was yanking at his sweater in nervousness.

Logan noticed that Ms. Heart did not come far into the room, instead pausing near the door. She did, however close the door to give them privacy, and that seemed to distress Virgil more.

She seemed to contemplate him for a moment. “Hello,” she said, her voice softer than Logan was used to hearing. “You must be Virgil.”

It seemed as though he were willing himself to magically shrink, but he still replied. “Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Patton’s mom.”

“I know, ma’am.”

“There’s no need to be formal, Virgil.”

He hesitated. “Okay,” he said somehow quieter.

Her eyebrows drew together in concern, and it seemed that she decided to result to her default way of making people more comfortable. “Would you kids like some candy?”

Logan saw Patton’s hand squeeze Virgil’s lightly. “That would be great, Mama.”

She nodded and walked forward towards her desk. Virgil turned so his back was never to her. If she noticed, she didn’t react. She just grabbed a small tin off one of her shelves and took the top off. “How about a peppermint candy?” she asked.

She offered the tin out to them. Virgil stared at it like it was a venomous snake. Logan decided to act, stepping forward and taking three of the pieces of peppermint candy from the dish. He stepped over to Virgil and Patton and held out his hand, offering Virgil first choice out of all three.

He hesitated before glancing between Patton and his mother. He must have decided that Patton’s mom wouldn’t risk poisoning Patton and took one of the pieces. Patton took another one of them and popped it into his mouth. Logan ate the last piece.

“Thanks,” Virgil said to Ms. Heart before placing his piece in his mouth.

Logan watched Virgil’s eyes light up a bit when the flavor registered. His posture didn’t completely relax, but he seemed at least a bit less like he was contemplating jumping through the window. His trust was almost worryingly easy to buy sometimes. All it took was a not poisoned peppermint.

Ms. Heart seemed pleased by his reaction. “I’m actually going to be making some new ones soon and I’m trying to get rid of these. Would you like to take another one for later?” she asked, holding out the tin.

He looked at it warily again, but he still stepped closer slowly and took another piece. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Ms. Heart said, eyes looking over him intensely. “You look like you could do to with a few more sweets every so often.”

Virgil tilted his head in that way he did when he was particularly perplexed.

Patton giggled a bit. “She means your skinny.”

“Oh,” Virgil said. “Logan already gave me a malnutrition potion for that.”

“Did he now?” she asked, her eyes flickering to Logan. Logan winced. He was definitely in trouble for not bringing him directly to her. He was sure he’d hear all about it as soon as she caught him without Virgil in the room.

She turned back to Virgil with a smile, and Logan imagined Virgil had no idea how dead Logan was. “Well, that’s a very good start, but if there was need for a nutrition potion, we should be careful to make sure you get enough calories and nutrients every day going forward.” She sat down at her desk. “Why don’t you and I talk for a bit about making sure you get some good food.”

He still looked cautious but was predictably enticed by the promise of food. He did not sit still, but he did put his hands on the back of one of the chairs and slightly lean on it. “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.

“Okay,” she said. “Well, I’m going to have a few more specific questions, but let’s just start with what are your favorite foods?”

“I’ll eat anything,” Virgil replied immediately.

“He really likes chicken alfredo,” Patton contributed.

Virgil perked up at the name of the food. “I did like that,” he agreed.

“Alright,” Ms. Heart replied. That’s a start.

Chapter 28

Thomas did not have to be told that something had gotten Helen Heart in a tizzy. He could tell just by the amount of food she had sent up on his dinner tray. She always made and pushed more food when she was stressed, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when he found both a hearty serving of roast beef and a mini chicken pot pie on his plate along with three vegetable side dishes and a side of macaroni and cheese.

He could also guess what had happened to illicit such a response. Thomas had caught up to Jeffers Deknis in his garden and they’d spoken at length about Logan and Patton’s new friend.

There was no way that after said discussion, Jeff had not mentioned Virgil (and more importantly his friendship with Patton) to Helen during their daily gossip sessions. There was also no way that Helen had heard the words “child” and “too small” in a sentence and hadn’t flipped. From there the inevitable sequence of events was clear: Patton went home, Helen talked his ear off until he agreed to bring Virgil to meet her, Helen met him and immediately committed herself to making sure he ate three square meals a day as well as multiple snacks.

Thomas had sussed all of that out before the kitchen worker bringing him his dinner had mentioned what had happened that day.

That in mind, he decided to wait until after dinner should have been cleaned up before walking his own dinner leftovers down to the kitchens.

Thomas was unsurprised to see Jeff already in the kitchen. He was sat at a small table off to the side where kitchen workers usually took their breaks. The only person other than Jeff and Helen left in the kitchen was a dishwasher who was finishing up. Helen usually spent a couple of hours after dinner in her kitchen or her office organizing for the next day and in case anyone needed food on an off hour, and then there was a night cook who would take over so she could go back to her set of rooms.

Helen took the tray of leftovers from Thomas herself and shooed the dishwasher out of the way. “I’ll handle the rest myself,” she told the girl. “You can leave.”

She nodded and started to take her apron off. Helen dumped the tray on the counter without care and turned back around to usher Thomas into one of the kitchen chairs. Thomas went willingly and she turned to fill the tea kettle with water and set it on the stove.

“It take it she met Virgil,” Thomas said to Jeff.

“She’s adopted Virgil,” Jeff replied, taking a bite out of a cookie.

“And what of it?” she asked. “Someone obviously needs to feed the boy. Speaking of, you’re grounding your son by the way.”

Thomas took one of the cookies for himself. “Why am I grounding Logan?” he asked.

“He was worried enough about his health to make him a nutrition potion, but still did not bring him to me,” she harrumphed.

“I see,” Thomas replied.

“In Logan’s defense,” Jeff interrupted. “the boy seems rather timid. He may have worried about you scaring him off.”

Helen slapped him with a dishtowel.

“Actually,” Jeff continued. “From what I’ve gathered he didn’t have contact with anyone since the time I saw him a couple of weeks ago until now.”

“Any adults,” Thomas corrected with a frown. “I’m pretty sure he, Patton, and Logan must have been around each other considering how close they already seem to be.” He paused, “Logan implied he wasn’t particularly… comfortable around adults.”

“I did get that impression, yes,” Helen said, pouring the hot water from the kettle into a tea pot and carrying it and some cups over to the table.

“He was incredibly jumpy,” Jeff confirmed. “I imagine he does not have good experiences with many people, but he seems to have grown attached to Logan and Patton. He defers to them in most things and seemed a bit protective.

“Where did he come from?” Thomas asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jeff said. “I found him hiding in the garden shed a couple of weeks ago.”

“Did he sneak in?” Thomas asked.

“That’s what I would have thought,” Jeff replied, “but when I asked, he said he wasn’t trying to steal anything and that he was supposed to be in the castle. So, I’d assumed that meant he was the child of someone living in the caste.”

“But neither of us could find anyone who knew him,” Helen said. “Of course, we didn’t even know his name until now.” She seemed to decide the tea leaves had sat long enough because she started to pour them each a cup of tea.

Thomas took a sip. “Earl Grey,” he commented. “I guess I’m not sleeping much tonight.” It was her ‘planning tea.’

“We need a plan,” she said, “but we’re going to have to be gentle.”

“At least with Virgil,” Jeff said.

Thomas laughed lightly, “and what do you plan to do with the other two?”

“I have my ways.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “You say that,” she said, “but you’re too soft. The two of them learned to run circles around you and your powers years ago.”

“We should talk to them though,” Thomas said. “Separately from Virgil.”

“We should,” Helen agreed. “I already spoke to Patton a bit yesterday, but I will again. We should see if we can ask around and find out why he’s in the castle. We don’t even know how long he’s lived here. Or who brought him here.” The look on her face told Thomas she wanted to have a talk with his guardians whoever and wherever they were.

Helen took a drink of tea, it seemed to calm herself. “We need to make sure whatever has been happening to him is not happening in these walls,” she said.

Thomas had honestly… not thought about that. He’d assumed whatever made Virgil so skittish was in the past, but it was possible that it was ongoing. The thought made him sick.

“Perhaps you should try to talk to him, Thomas,” Helen suggested.

Thomas winced. “I am not sure that is a good idea...”

“Why not?”

“We don’t have the best track record… I don’t think me being around him would be a good idea.”

“Oh, please, Thomas,” Helen said disbelievingly.

“No, you don’t understand,” Thomas said. “He seems disproportionately afraid of me. I think it’s a mix of me being king and how we met.”

“How did you meet?” Helen asked.

“I… gave him a bit of a fright,” Thomas admitted. “Logan and Patton weren’t in the room and I didn’t know who he was. He… ended up under the bed. Then… the second time I saw him he accidently ran into me. He freaked out again.” The memory still made Thomas feel gross. It also made him think there was a lot more to his backstory than the three of them understood.

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“Perhaps Jeff can try to talk to him then,” Helen said. “It sounds like he was calmest around you. I’ll push Patton towards taking him to the garden more often. I bet fresh air would do him some good anyway.”

Jeff nodded. “I will try to talk to him a bit more.”

“Great,” Helen said, but Thomas already knew the conversation wasn’t over. “Now we need to talk about strategic events to throw over the next few months that Patton and Logan to invite Virgil to. We’ll start slow, but we need to make sure he feels welcome in the castle.”

Thomas met Jeff’s eyes. Yeah, it was going to be a long night.

Chapter 29

Virgil finished eating the breakfast Patton’s mom had sent for him. It had been going on a week since she’d made the menu for him. She sent up little cards with each meal and he was supposed to rate each thing she sent on a scale from 1-5. Logan would read it to him before he ate, and Virgil mark the little box on the card. Usually, he would put a 4 for everything (he had tried to do 5, but Logan had told him 5 was reserved for things like chicken alfredo). Three was for things that he was neutral on, 2 was for things he didn’t like but could tolerate, and 1 was for things he didn’t like. So far, the only 3 was the unseasoned porridge she’d sent one day.

“Finished?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

“What would you like to do today?” Logan asked. “Patton is busy until after lunch, and then we thought you might like to go back to the garden again. It’s supposed to drop in temperature over the next few days, so it will be the last good day for it.”

“Sounds good,” Virgil said. “I don’t care what we do today though.”

“Well, there are a few options,” Logan said.

“What do you want to do?” Virgil asked.

Logan made an expression, and Virgil titled his head. “I’m don’t have anything in particular I want to do,” he said.

“You’re lying,” Virgil said immediately.

“You would not be interested in the activity I wish to partake in,” Logan said.

Virgil squinted at him. “I’d be interested in laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling.”

Logan chuckled. “No, truly. The activity I would do if you were not present would involve reading.”

“You can read to me,” Virgil suggested.

“…In Sanskrit.”

Virgil frowned at him. “Isn’t that, like, some sort of dead language?”

“It is,” Logan said. “I taught myself to read it to read a specific book called the Pragilium Text. It’s an encoded book that leads to a magical location that I have been trying to decode for years.”

“That’s fine,” Virgil said. “You can do that.”

“It would be in the library,” Logan said.

“Okay.”

“But…” Logan said. “It would in no way be interesting to you.”

Virgil shrugged. “Like I said. I’m content to lie on the floor for a few hours.”

Logan frowned. “I can’t make you do that.”

“You wouldn’t be making me,” Virgil said. “I want to go. Maybe you can find me an easy book I could try to read?”

“Are you certain?” he asked.

Virgil nodded, decisively.

“Very well, get dressed and I will show you the library.”

Virgil stood to do so and a few minutes later, Logan was leading him out of the royal wing.

Both of the guards greeted him kindly, and Virgil hunched his shoulders in a bit, but said a soft “hi.”

The library didn’t end up being too far away. It was through the small dining hall and to the left where the staircase to the kitchen was to the right.

“This is not the main library,” Logan said. “It is just a smaller one. The royal librarian comes here only about once a week to organize. Some other castle residents might come in too, but it is usually mostly empty.” Virgil could tell just by listening for a few seconds that the place was likely empty (unless someone was lying in wait).

“I’ll look and see if there is something simple for you in case you’d like to read. You can explore a bit if you’d like,” Logan said.

Virgil nodded and stalked off into the shelves to secure the area. There were many books, not that he could quite read any of the spines. The bookcases were mostly cramped into the space. There was the open area where they’d come in with a few comfy chairs and Virgil found a desk near one of the windows. It had stacks of books including one pretty large and old one. He looked at it curiously.

#proofread stories #not writing

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roleplay-salt · 4 years ago

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About; Rules; FAQ

Welcome to Roleplay Salt! This is a blog for roleplayers to vent & rant anonymously about the things that peeve or hurt them in the roleplaying community.

GENERAL

Your submission will always be posted anonymously; no exceptions. (This includes positivity submissions & shoutouts.)

Your submission’s text will be placed in a graphic and then copied as plain text as its caption for accessibility purposes.

Topics must be roleplay-related. (This can, of course, include experiences with partners doing things that may be unrelated to roleplay, but would still be considered relevant if it impacts your roleplaying experience with that particular partner.)

Anyone following our blog will be allowed to leave replies on submissions, whether in agreement or disagreement, and everyone is allowed (even encouraged) to reblog submissions, with or without their own commentary. However, we will delete any spamming comments, including ones that are or are similar to “Why don’t you come off anon and say that?” Such comments provide nothing to the discussion. In fact, they usually shut down discussion and it completely disregards the entire point of this blog’s existence. No one has to “come off anon” nor are they “cowards” for seeking safety behind anonymity. Your aggressiveness with that sentiment only reinforces the reason why they want to be anonymous in the first place. ADDENDUM: We will delete salt replies that involve simply telling others to, essentially, “shut up and move on already” and “stop sending salt replies in about this”. You’re more than allowed to say this things in the comments, but we will no longer be making them a part of any future debates.

We actively edit and restructure the wording of submissions. We read every single one of your submissions and we care about consistency and readability. We will correct any spelling errors, grammar errors, and odd sentencing structure, and we will often lengthen abbreviations and slang, and we will fill out any curse words or sensitive terms that were originally 'censored' in the submissions. Do not take it personally! Again, we aim for consistency. We will never just copy/paste your submission and then post it. That's terrible.

T Y P E S O F S A L T

Vents & Rants

Complaints

Negative Confessions

Callouts

T Y P E S O F S U G A R

Advice & Suggestions

Critique

Positive Confessions

Shoutouts

T Y P E S O F F L O U R

The “Flour” category is reserved for any submissions that do not appropriately fit under “Salt” or “Sugar”, often involving personal confessions and storytelling.

C A L L O U T S & S H O U T O U T S

A callout submission is specifically speaking nastily and meanly about someone else, regardless if it’s the truth or not. All URLs & names in a callout submission will be marked out to preserve the other party’s anonymity as well. We are a safe place for you to release your anger, frustration and hurt, even if it’s towards someone and not something. But we cannot and will not participate in the true nature of a callout. That will need to be something that you do for yourself if you believe that it’s important for you, your friends and your fandom community.

A shoutout submission is specifically speaking kindly and positively about someone else.

All URLs & names in a shoutout submission will remain visible, and the person will be tagged & mentioned on the post so as to better the odds of them seeing it.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

“Who are the moderators?”

Currently, there is only one operating the blog: Moderator Bull.

“Am I allowed to know your roleplay/personal blogs?”

Unfortunately, no. To preserve our own anonymity (for many of the same reasons as the submitters), we have agreed on the terms to never give out our URLs if requested. If we are interested in your blog, then we will follow you at our own discretion!

“Will you remove a submission for me?”

That depends on the type of submission, what it is about, and what your reasoning for wanting it removed is. The whole point of anonymity is that nothing gets tied back to you. The only cases where we will greatly consider removing a submission is if it’s involving a shoutout about you and you don’t want to be affiliated with us.

“Will you remove my comments on a submission?”

Of course! However, we will not remove any corresponding responses to you (except in instances where, if yours is removed, the next comment is made to look like it’s being directed to the person prior to your comment. We don’t want to cause unnecessary conflict.) We will also not be relied upon to keep deleting comments you regret leaving behind. If you’re wanting to leave a public response on submissions, then you must be prepared to have others possibly publicly disagree with you.

“Can I ask you for roleplay advice?”

Go right ahead! But we can’t promise the best or most insightful of answers, or that we’ll get to them relatively soon! Chances are, we will post your questions anonymously so that others in the community can help.

“Why did you follow my blog?”

To make our existence known to you and, if you like us, hoping that you will send in a submission of your own or tell your roleplay partners about us!

“How did you find my blog?”

Most likely through the Recommended sidebar feature, a mutual, or just the good ol’ search function.

“Could you unfollow me?”

If you don’t want to be associated with us, then we recommend blocking the blog so that we don’t unintentionally follow you again!

“Hey, could you do something about the people leaving rude, mean responses on the submissions?”

Unless they are throwing bigoted slurs, threats, or suicide-baiting remarks at the anonymous submitter, they are not doing anything wrong. They have just as much right to disagree with your submission as you had when you sent it to us. We are, first and foremost, a place to vent frustrations or hurts behind the safety of anonymity, and we are also a free-speech blog. We are of the belief that discussions, no matter how heated, is healthy and brings the community together as a whole. Just as your submission may provide someone else with the awareness that they are not alone in similar frustrations, someone disagreeing with your submission may provide a new perspective to you and others that had not been considered before.

“How does name-calling and swearing and being mean add to a discussion? You and your blog are what are wrong with the roleplaying community!”

Just because someone isn’t being nice to you as they give their side of the argument, doesn’t mean that it cancels out their actual argument. You’re choosing to be offended and distracted by how abrasive they are, and that’s no one’s problem to deal with but your own. You have the ability to block anyone so that you no longer have to see their comments on future submissions. Why would we police what people say, the endgame of which would be to ban them from ever reblogging or commenting on submissions again if they don’t listen to us, if you’re not even willing to try solving the problem first by just blocking them? Wanting to have the last word or being upset that your submission didn’t receive the feedback you wanted is not a reason for us to step in and step on someone else’s right to speak, rudely or otherwise. If you’re not going to block them, then why should we?

“Could you not post submissions on sensitive topics like noncon, incest, and pedophilia?”

We have started tagging posts that we believe might be sensitive and controversial in nature with the tag “#twcontroversy”. We recommend blacklisting this tag. If that is still not enough, then we recommend unfollowing/blocking us. These are topics just as relevant in the roleplaying community as anything else.

“Could you promote me?”

Certainly! But only if you are another community-involved blog (a blog that provides a ‘service’ to the community, such as advice, roleplay help, a place for confessions, etc.), and it must be relevant to the roleplaying community to some degree! If you want to promote a roleplay blog, then we suggest sending in a shoutout submission!

“I sent a confession in weeks ago. Where is it? How long will it take for it to get posted?”

It’s either sitting in the queue or sitting in our drafts, waiting to be queued. We have 1,200+ followers so far, and on average we’re sent 15+ submissions a night. We only post between 5 to 8 submissions at night. Your submission is on a wait list. That’s all we can tell you.

“Why don’t you just close your submission box until all the current confessions are posted?”

Because we’re a vent blog first and foremost. If we close our ask/submission boxes, then we’re no longer an option for people who might desperately need to vent or talk about something that could have happened to them that day but have no other options. We want to be a healthy alternative to just bottling it up or possibly lashing out at the wrong people.

“I don’t believe you! I think you deleted my submission because one of you didn’t like it! You’re not unbiased at all!”

We’ve posted submissions about highly controversial roleplay topics like noncon, racism, transphobia, and pedophilia. We reassure you that your salt submission about OCs, theme trends, blog selectivity, etc. is not on that same level, least of all to the point that one of us would delete it. The only submissions that we have deleted, so far, are the ones that have included racial and homophobic slurs.

“[insert OP/commenter] is obviously a rapist/pedophilie!”

If we find that you have accused someone of being a rapist, pedophile, or apologist of either because of their defensive views on noncon/pedophilic ships or roleplay, your comment will be removed and you will be blocked. These are serious accusations that you shouldn’t be throwing at people over fictional content and we refuse to to let you use this blog as a platform to spew such slanderous accusations.

#about #rules #faq

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aricazorel · 4 years ago

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Author Interview

Thank you for tagging me @ljandersen

I don’t have many followers, so I won’t be tagging anyone. I haven’t done one of these before so here we go…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Name: AricaZorel

Fandoms: Mass Effect Trilogy; Dragon Age; Star Wars

Where You Post: AO3

Most Popular One-Shot: “Rebecca Shepard” It’s a Mass Effect involving Kaidan/femShep set during the events of ME3. Centered around Kaidan’s recovery after Mars and their attempt to repair their relationship after Horizon, the story is a little bit fluff, a little bit angst, a little bit smutty. It was originally written as a long fic but I broke it into 4 chapters. It has the highest stats and of course has a happy ending.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: “Anchor” It’s a Dragon Age Cullen/femOC MGIT story that is still ongoing. The gist of the story is that a woman who is into historical preservation on Earth is pulled through a Rift and ends up in Haven. Cullen and his soldiers rescue her from a mob of demons. After that, they build a slow, fragile friendship that blooms into trust and respect as she finds her way in her new world. It’s my first attempt at a slow burn and also a very personal story for me in that Anyssa’s (my OC) background is based partially on some events in my own past. I am continually surprised by the amount of views and kudos I have received as well as the comments. I suppose it’s a combination of the fluff factor, a person searching for a place to belong and trying to remember who they are, and that it’s personal to me that might make it my most popular fic.

Favorite Story You Wrote: “Messages” It’s a Mass Effect story that involves Kaidan and a fem OC reconnecting during the months leading up to the beginning of ME3. Reese (my OC) met Kaidan on the original SR-1 and they became friends and later lovers. The destruction of the original Normandy put a strain on their relationship and Kaidan left. Three years later circumstances bring them back together and they take their time getting to know one another again before the arrival of the Reapers. (This is actually a prequel to a larger story I have written and am currently editing.) I liked the idea of Kaidan having a relationship with someone other than Shepherd aboard the SR-1 and my mind ran away with the idea. It’s full of fluff and goofiness. I always imagined Kaidan as a goofball and a nerd once he left his guard down with someone special and I tried to incorporate it in the story. I also enjoyed writing a couple getting to know each other again through small moments, taking the time to remember things about each other while discovering new things. Not my highest viewed story but defiantly my favorite.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: My very first posted fic “Pieces.” It’s a Dragon Age 2 fic about Fenris/fem Hawke. It started out as a one shot that I posted just to see the reaction. I have been writing for a while but have always been afraid to post anything. My daughter of all people is the one who convinced me to post it. (She has already posted more than I have and doesn’t have any issues. She’s braver than me 😉) Now that fic I was afraid to post is my second highest viewed story on AO3. I still get nervous posting though. Mostly now it’s just waiting for feedback though.

How You Choose Your Titles: I don’t have a certain way of choosing. I usually don’t even have a title until I’ve written a good chunk of the story. Sometimes I use song titles or lyrics. For prompts I usually just use a word or phrase from the prompt itself.

Complete: 7 complete stories that are posted. (2 that are finished but not posted yet.)

Incomplete: 2 incomplete stories (1 that is being updated regularly and 1 that is on hiatus until my muse comes back from its extended vacation)

Do You Outline? Does a notebook full of sticky notes count? I don’t outline much. I write down key events, bits of conversations, things I would like to work into the story. It’s a bit unorganized but it works for me.

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: I have a couple of things I plan to post soon once I ma done editing them. Two are rather long while the others are a few one shots that are companion pieces to fics I have already posted.

Do You Accept Prompts? No. While I am relatively comfortable while my writing I know there is still always room for improvement. I am not comfortable writing other people’s OCs for one. I have been inspired by comments left by readers, but I do not actively seek and accept prompts.

Most Excited to Write: “Anchor” and “Messages” were the two stories I enjoyed writing the most and finished the quickest. The stories almost seemed to write themselves. Both ideas that spawned those stories wouldn’t leave me alone and allowed me to write lots of fluff and goofiness which I love reading about. Trying my hand at it was a very rewarding experience.

#author interview #mass effect #dragon age #fan fiction #I forgot to add the links to the fics but I'm on AO3 with the same username

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vampire-himbos-of-santa-perdita · 6 years ago

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I was tagged by @crowswritetoo. Thank you!

What genre(s) you write

It’s a bit complicated, but long story short, historical paranormal fantasy, I guess. By that, I could mean 80s time travel, Victorian crime, or early 2000s punk rock, all with a supernatural bent.

What’s on your reading wish list

Um... too many things? I’m waiting for Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion to drop in its entirety, and for the paperback edition of Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded for the novel research. I’m also waiting (im)patiently for Gerard Way’s Doom Patrol: Nada to finally make its way to my local library.

Your favorite character from your current WIP

It’s still early days, but I’ve been getting horrifically swoony over Aster Maddox, though who can blame me, because he is a broody punk boy just out there being angry on stage, but taking care of everyone offstage. (Oh no... I have a type.)

Some writing tropes you like

ride or die siblings, dysfunctional families, strong female characters, vampires, time travel

The story behind your WIP’s name

I will never tire of answering this question!!!

Time, Regardless: I literally don’t remember how this came about, but I think I was just messing about with different words to pair with Time, because that’s the series name, and it’s about time travel. But I like to think the title means “time is gonna come back around and get ya no matter what you do to change it”, but also “Marnie’s gonna go back and try and change time regardless of what anyone tells her to do”.

Time, Undone: This is the sequel to Regardless, which tackles the repercussions of time travel, and what the world looks like when you undo a certain timeline and re-establish it as something else. But as I said before, time’s always going to correct itself, and undo what you’ve gone and changed. A certain unravelling, if you will...

Moonage Daydream: is a David Bowie song. I name all my fan fiction after songs, and I needed a good song title that fit with the space/celestial/moon theme. The fact that Sargent is my biggest David Bowie-ish character to date also helps.

Haunt Your Murderers: is a twist on my favourite quote from my favourite novel, Wuthering Heights:

Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!

I mean, this one’s pretty obvious... This is a novel about criminals, most specifically, murderers, and how killing people may just come back and bite them later...

Heaven’s Tiny Daggers: is a twist on one of my favourite My Chemical Romance lyrics, from “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na)”:

And right here, right now All the way in Battery City The little children raise their open, filthy palms Like tiny daggers up to heaven

And all the juvie halls and the ritalin rats Ask angels made from neon And fucking garbage scream out, ‘what will save us?’ And the sky opened up

I'm quite proud of this one, because this is a novel about angels, and how their work to preserve status quo as fate intends doesn’t have people’s best interests at heart. There’s a bit of an uprising of angels questioning that. But also, there’s the demons, who were originally created by falling from heaven for their defiance, and also people like the literal band Heaven’s Tiny Daggers, who named themselves so because they’re small but mighty. So there’s all kinds of different beings in this novel weaponizing themselves against The Man, whether that’s the industry, or The Powers that Be. And there’s that nice little nod to MCR, whose work is very anti-establishment already, and “Na Na Na” is perfectly representative of that.

Are you a pantser or plotter?

Like, a very solid plantser, in that I will plot everything out, down to the very last word, and then when I actually get to the writing part of it, my characters will veer so far off the original plans, I have no choice but to just roll with it...

Do you post your work somewhere?

I post little snippets I’m proud of during/after every writing session here on Tumblr, and Moonage is up in its entirety on AO3.

Do you also read/write fanfic? If yes, for the same genres as what you write?

I started out writing Harry Potter fan fiction when I was 9. And then my brother complained that I should be writing my own stuff, so I did. I’ve not written fan fiction since Moonage, just because that was almost my magnum opus in a way, and it’s hard to really top that after that... I do tend to write in the same genre as my original work though, and being able to carry Moonage’s TRC fantasy readership over to my own work has been the biggest boost to my writeblr.

Your favorite dessert. Because why not.

Pie!

Tagging @msmeaghanrey @msautumnmagnolia @vargulllf @fallynephemeron

(If any of you don’t like being tagged in things, you don’t have to do it at all and I absolve you of any guilt/anxiety not doing it gives you!)

#sophie writes #writing games #writeblr #i have so many WIPs #please send help #time series #time regardless #time undone #moonage #haunt your murderers #heaven's tiny daggers

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loadoutlet812 · 3 years ago

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Time Clock 1

Time Clock 120v Not Digital

Reset Clock 1

I love Time Clock Wizard! Their service department has impressed me the few times whenever I've needed to contact them - they even incorporated a change in the interface that I had submitted and has also sent a thank you note. Time Clock Wizard is an integral part of my service business. I am really very happy using these services!!

Electronic time clock

A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a device that records start and end times for hourly employees (or those on flexi-time) at a place of business.

Free employee time clock app. Clockify is the most popular free online time clock app for employees. With it, employees can clock-in and clock-out using an online timer. Great for tracking employee attendance, seeing who works on what, and exporting data for payroll or billing. Get Started — It's Free! Available for web, desktop, and mobile.

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In mechanical time clocks, this was accomplished by inserting a heavy paper card, called a time card, into a slot on the time clock. When the time card hit a contact at the rear of the slot, the machine would print day and time information (a timestamp) on the card. One or more time cards could serve as a timesheet or provide the data to fill one. This allowed a timekeeper to have an official record of the hours an employee worked to calculate the pay owed an employee.

The terms Bundy clock, bundy clock, or just bundy(1) have been used in Australian English for time clocks. The term comes from brothers Willard and Harlow Bundy.

History(edit)

Origins(edit)

Early time clock, made by National Time Recorder Co. Ltd. of Blackfriars, London at Wookey Hole Caves museum

Bundy clock

An early and influential time clock, sometimes described as the first, was invented on November 20, 1888, by Willard Le Grand Bundy,(2) a jeweler in Auburn, New York. His patent of 1890(3) speaks of mechanical time recorders for workers in terms that suggest that earlier recorders already existed, but Bundy's had various improvements; for example, each worker had his own key. A year later his brother, Harlow Bundy, organized the Bundy Manufacturing Company,(4)(5) and began mass-producing time clocks.

In 1900, the time recording business of Bundy Manufacturing, along with two other time equipment businesses, was consolidated into the International Time Recording Company (ITR).(6)(7)(8)(9)

In 1911, ITR, Bundy Mfg., and two other companies were amalgamated (via stock acquisition), forming a fifth company, Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), which would later change its name to IBM.(10)

The Bundy clock (see image left) was used by Birmingham City Transport to ensure that bus drivers did not depart from outlying termini before the due time; now preserved at Walsall Arboretum.

Time Clock 120v Not Digital

In 1909, Halbert P. Gillette explained about the state of the art around time clocks in those days:

IBM time clock

Time clocks.—Such an appliance which may not, in general, be used in the field, but which is of immense value in the office and particularly in a shop, is the time clock. Various forms of time clocks are in common use, two types of which are illustrated. (The first) is a time card recorder, which is a clock so made that it will automatically stamp on a card inserted in a slot in the clock by the workman the time of his arrival and of his departure. The cards are made to hold a record covering the pay period and need no attention from a timekeeper or clerk until the termination of this period. Parallels network & wireless cards driver download for windows 10. The record of the men's time can then be compiled very readily by one who need not be a skilled mathematician or time clerk.

The time clock system has been developed very highly in shops for keeping track of time used in completing any job by workmen, but as this in a way is not in the realm of field cost keeping, it will not be entered into here.

Another form of time clock (..) has the numbers of the employees fixed on the outer edge of a disk or ring and a record is made by the employee who shifts a revolving arm and punches his number upon entering the office and leaving. The working up of employees' time then becomes simply a matter of computation from printed figures. These two types are made by the International Time Recording Co. of New York.(11)

An example of this other form of time clock, made by IBM, is pictured. The face shows employee numbers which would be dialed up by employees entering and leaving the factory. The day and time of entry and exit was punched onto cards inside the box.(12)

Mid 20th century(edit)

In 1958, IBM's Time Equipment Division was sold to the Simplex Time Recorder Company. However, in the United Kingdom ITR (a subsidiary of IBM United Kingdom Ltd.) was the subject of a management buy-out in 1963 and reverted to International Time Recorders. In 1982, International Time Recorders was acquired by Blick Industries of Swindon, England, who were themselves later absorbed by Stanley Security Systems.

The first punched-card system to be linked to a Z80 microprocessor was developed by Kronos Incorporated in the late 1970s and introduced as a product in 1979.(13)

Late 20th century(edit)

In the late 20th century, time clocks started to move away from the mechanical machines to computer-based, electronic time and attendance systems. The employee registers with the system by swiping a magnetic stripe card, scanning a barcode, bringing an RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag close to a reader, entering a number or using a biometric reader. These systems are much more advanced than the mechanical time clock: various reports can be generated, including on compliance with the European Working Time Directive, and a Bradford factor report. Employees can also use the system to request holidays, enter absence requests and view their worked hours. User interfaces can be personalized and offer robust self-service capabilities.

Electronic time clock machines are manufactured in many designs by companies in China and sold under various brand names in places around the world, with accompanying software to extract the data from a single time clock machine, or several machines, and process the data into reports. In most cases local suppliers offer technical support and in some cases installation services.

More recently, time clocks have started to adopt technology commonly seen in phones and tablets – called 'Smartclocks'. The 'state of the art' smartclocks come with multi-touch screens, full color displays, real time monitoring for problems, wireless networking and over the air updates. Some of the smartclocks use front-facing cameras to capture employee clock-ins to deter 'buddy clocking' or 'buddy punching', whereby one employee fraudulently records the time of another. This problem usually requires expensive biometric devices. With the increasing popularity of cloud-based software, some of the newer time clocks are built to work seamlessly with the cloud.(14)

Types(edit)

Basic time clock(edit)

A basic time clock will just stamp the date and time on a time card, similar to a parking validation machine. These will usually be activated by a button that a worker must press to stamp their card, or stamp upon full insertion. Some machines use punch hole cards instead of stamping, which can facilitate automated processing on machinery not capable of optical character recognition.

There are also variations based on manufacture and machine used, and whether the user wants to record weekly or monthly recordings. The time cards usually have the workdays, 'time in', and 'time out' areas marked on them so that employees can 'punch in' or 'punch out' in the correct place. The employee may be responsible for lining up the correct area of the card to be punched or stamped. Some time clocks feature a bell or signal relay to alert employees as to a certain time or break.(citation needed)

Fraudulent operation of time clocks can include overstamping, where one time is stamped over another, and buddy-punching, where one employee records time for another. In extreme cases, employees can use buddy-punching to skip entire days of work or accumulate additional overtime.

Self-calculating machines(edit)

Reset Clock 1

Contactless magnetic time clock card

Self-calculating machines are similar to basic time clocks. Nevertheless, at the end of each period the total time recorded is added up allowing for quicker processing by human resources or payroll. These machines sometimes have other functions such as automatic stamping, dual-colour printing, and automated column shift.(citation needed)

Software based time and attendance systems are similar to paper-based systems, but they rely on computers and check-in terminals. They are backed up with software that can be integrated with the human resources department and in some cases payroll software. https://loadoutlet812.tumblr.com/post/657433190171017216/download-sealevel-port-devices-driver. These types of systems are becoming more popular but due to high initial costs they are usually only adopted by large business of over 30 employees. Despite this they can save a business a lot of money every year by cutting down errors and reducing administration time.(15)(citation needed)

Mobile time tracking(edit)

With the mass market proliferation of mobile devices (smart phones, handheld devices), new types of self-calculating time tracking systems have been invented which allow a mobile workforce – such as painting companies or construction companies - to track employees 'on' and 'off' hours. This is generally accomplished through either a mobile application, or an IVR based phone call in system. Using a mobile device allows enterprises to better validate that their employees or suppliers are physically 'clocking in' at a specific location using the GPS functionality of a mobile phone for extra validation.

Biometrics(edit)

Biometric time clocks are a feature of more advanced time and attendance systems. Rather than using a key, code or chip to identify the user, they rely on a unique attribute of the user, such as a hand print, finger print, finger vein, palm vein, facial recognition, iris or retina. The user will have their attribute scanned into the system. Biometric readers are often used in conjunction with an access control system, granting the user access to a building, and at the same time clocking them in recording the time and date. These systems also attempt to cut down on fraud such as 'buddy clocking.' When combined with an access control system they can help prevent other types of fraud such as 'ghost employees', where additional identities are added to payroll but don't exist.

See also(edit)

References(edit)

^Bundy. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bundy

^Willard Legrand Bundy Biography

^U.S. Patent 452,894

^IBM Archives: Bundy Manufacturing Co.

^Bundy Museum of History & Art

^Engelbourg (1954) p.33

^Belden, Martin; Belden, Marva (1961). The Life of Thomas J. Watson, Little, Brown; p. 92

^IBM Archives: International Time Recording

^IBM Archives: ITR time recorder

^Bennett, Frank P.; Company (June 17, 1911). United States Investor. 22, Part 2. p. 1298 (26).

^Gillette, Halbert Powers, and Richard T. Dana. Construction Cost Keeping and Management. Gillette Publishing Company, 1909, p. 110-112.

^Engelbourg, Saul (1954). International Business Machines: A Business History (Ph.D.). Columbia University. p. 385. Reprinted by Arno Press, 1976, from the best available copy. Some text is illegible.

^Kronos History

^David Needle, TabTimes, Android tablet gives old punch card time clock facelift

^'Time Is Money'(PDF). https://www.accelo.com/assets/Uploads/WhitePaperTimeIsMoney.pdf. July 2014.External link in |website= (help)

External links(edit)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Time recorders.

IBM Time Clocks (PDF files)

www.timerecorder.de/ (mostly in German, but partly translated into English) is one of the most comprehensive online documentations of the history of time recorders and time clocks

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Time_clock&oldid=991721279'

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badonkodank · 7 years ago

Text

Damages Done

ao3

Rating: T Characters: 2D, Noodle, Murdoc Tags: Implied/referenced abuse, Phase Three, Hurt/comfort, Platonic cuddling, Emotional baggage, Violence, Crying, Hugging, Murdoc’s an asshole, 2D and Noodle are best friends

Excerpt: “Aren’t you afraid of whales?”

2D froze. He hadn’t been prepared to answer any questions along the lines of “whales”, and he was even less prepared to answer that one. He knew how to answer the question, sure, it had an easy answer. Not a simple one, by any means, but an easy one. He bit his lip, turning his attention back to the spot past Noodle’s head, half expecting Murdoc to appear.

A/N: Right off the bat: I've been in the fandom for less than a week, but I read up on everything and think I understand it for the most part? I wanted to do something that was post Plastic Beach but pre-DoYaThing video? I don't know if everything is 100% accurate, but I did do my best. I just had a lot of feelings about 2D and his relationships with Noodle and Murdoc. And just so nothing is misinterpreted: This is not a 2Nu fic- just good ole' fashioned platonic and familial love.Also: Has not been edited.

Faint sunlight filtered in through the shutters, leaving a dusting off golden yellow across 2D's face. The man woke slowly, yawning and stretching as he went. When he finished rubbing the sleep from his eyes, 2D looked around his room and frowned when piles of clothes and various furniture items strewn about greeted his vision. It took him perhaps longer than it should have to remember why his room looked different from what he'd been used to.

He promptly reminded himself that Plastic Beach was behind him and threw the covers off, getting out of bed to prepare for the day.

The new place they'd taken up residence was foreign to him, but he'd navigated it enough times to at least know how to get to the important places without getting lost. He was pretty sure they'd been there for a while at that point, though he'd only recently joined them, so he couldn't be completely positive.

He was just glad to have everyone back in his life. He didn't much like being alone. It was even nicer to have Noodle and Russel back, because when it was just him and Murdoc… well, he prefered having other people around to buffer the effects of Murdoc's treatment towards him. When they were around he at least had someone to hang out with after being yelled at by the bassist. At least it wasn't like Plastic Beach, when the only other person besides Murdoc in the immediate vicinity was a Cyborg- and that wasn't even technically a person.

Murdoc had told him it was as good as having the real Noodle around, but 2D hadn't much agreed. The real Noodle was warm and playful and sweet, whereas the Cyborg had been cold, distant, and in some cases, mean. Sure, the real Noodle could have her nasty streaks, same as any, but she always got over then and was rarely ever mean to him. Cyborg Noodle just did whatever Murdoc wanted her to, which was also unlike real Noodle.

He'd accepted the cold replacement as best he could, though. As heartsick as he'd been over the potential loss of their youngest band-mate, having a fake one had been better than nothing. He'd managed to convince himself of that, at least, because it was better than constantly agonizing over whether or not the real Noodle was alive or dead and not knowing the answer. Nonetheless, having Cyborg Noodle around had been weirdly uncomfortable for him, and he couldn't say he missed the damned thing- it had never been a proper Noodle and he'd never been able to fool himself into thinking it was.

2D paused in front of the room of the woman in question before heading downstairs. He didn't knock before cracking the door open to peak inside to check up on her; she was always asleep until at least seven, but sometimes he felt the need to make sure. He half expected to see cold eyes staring back at him when he found her form huddled under several blankets. He was relieved when he saw her hair falling around closed eyes set into a soft face. A gentle smile formed across his face and he closed the door, satisfied with his findings.

It was silly to think she wasn't the real one back, but sometimes his head did things that made no sense. When that happened it was better to just show it the truth instead of fret. Noodle was fine and she was there, just as he'd known she was. He sighed to himself as he made his way down the stairs. He was glad to have the proper Noodle back in the house. Her presence put everyone in a better mood, even Murdoc.

It was interesting, how she was able to affect everyone by simply existing in their space. He was glad for it, though. He liked feeling happier. He liked that Murdoc seemed happier too- if the word "happy" could be applied to the man, anyway. 2D liked that he wasn't getting smacked around as much. He wished Murdoc would stop hurting him altogether, since it would make life more comfortable, but since that would never happen, he could be content with what he had.

Even so, 2D found himself bummed that he couldn't just chill out and be himself when he was in the bassist's presence like everyone else seemed to be able to do. Noodle and Russel could shoot the breeze and when they were irritated with Murdoc, they could tell him off. He didn't have that luxury. He was always on edge around the Murdoc. He always had been, but since Plastic Beach he'd only gotten jumpier. And it wasn't just Murdoc that got him fidgety either; dark rooms weren't exactly a comfort to him anymore- though, whether it was because it reminded him of being stuck in a suitcase or a whale, he wasn't sure. Not that it mattered all that much, because it wasn't like he could control his fears.

As if summoned by his thoughts alone, the moment 2D sat on the sofa to relax a bit before breakfast, he found himself being harshly shoved off. He yelped and his butt collided with the floor around the same time Murdoc's order to "move it, Dents" registered in his mind.

He rubbed his back where some pain lingered, but didn't have much time to feel any relief before he was scrambling back to avoid having feet connect with his skull. Murdoc paid him no mind as he settled his legs on the coffee table with a tired groan and 2D blinked, still surprised to see him up so early.

Normally the man wouldn't wake up until much later in the day- or even if he was awake, he stayed in, doing whatever the hell it was he did in that pitch black room of his. It was a habit of his that 2D had come to rely on. He knew what times he could kick back and honestly relax without having to worry about someone coming in and yelling at him or something, so Murdoc being awake now and ruining that routine weirded him out.

"You're up early, Murdoc." His comment was carefully spoken as a casual observation more than a question.

Murdoc didn't look up from the TV. "'Spose I am."

2D stood up and wrung his hands awkwardly. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to make the conversation go from there, or if it was even a conversation after all; Murdoc had shut him down pretty effectively. It sucked, that he could do that and people would just leave him alone. Well, actually, 2D was really the only person who left him alone, but he supposed that was just because that was how their dynamic worked. He listened to what Murdoc told him to do most of the time and in return, Murdoc left him be. Not that that happened all that often- the Murdoc leaving him alone, part. Murdoc would make it out like he was gonna go away and then he'd do something like throw a boot at his head. Still, that was pretty tame compared to what he used to do.

2D resisted the urge to touch the corner of his eye with the thought, and instead let his arms hang loosely at his sides. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. Murdoc had taken his seat, and with it, his sense of security. 2D supposed he could sit on the opposite side of the sofa, but he knew he'd just be on edge the entire time he did so, and since nobody else was around, and it was early, Murdoc would probably not hesitate to kick him for the hell of it.

It wasn't fair. The others didn't have to deal with the level of anxiety around Murdoc that he did. It was a little stupid, too. After so many years around the bassist, 2D figured he'd have gotten used to the emasculation and abuse, and just learned to deal with it better, but in the end, he was just as sad and pathetic as when everything had started. It was so frustrating. Russel wouldn't have taken so much crap from the man, and Noodle would've told Murdoc to go back to hell.

So why was he just taking it?

"Oi, you just gonna stand there all day?"

Murdoc's voice made him start. 2D forced a nervous laugh.

"Oh, sorry I's just finkin'."

Murdoc snorted and pulled a beer bottle from between the cushions, popping it open with a simple flick of his thumb.

"Ha, sure you were."

The comment served to strike a cord of indignation inside of him and 2D narrowed his eyes at man. The fact that Murdoc was intruding on his personal time was upsetting enough, but the fact that he now was calling him dumb, yet again, aggravated 2D in a way he assumed was Russel and Noodle's default around the man. Suddenly, the idea of sticking his tail between his legs and running off wasn't so appealing to him and 2D huffed, crossing his arms.

"Ya don' haff to be mean, Murdoc."

That wasn't exactly what he'd originally been planning to say, but, seeing as how much adrenaline was shot through his veins at the small quip, that was probably for the best. It was also probably good for preserving himself, seeing as how moody Murdoc could be when he was given attitude. Honestly he was walking a fine line already.

"'Scuse you?"

Murdoc looked amused even as his tone warned 2D to say anything else.

2D shrugged, but didn't change his stance, even if his eyes did flicker to the floor. He knew he should say nothing and let Murdoc win, but his attitude of thinking he could walk all over 2D was beginning to grate. He opened his mouth before he could think to stop himself.

"Said you don' haff to be a prick."

Murdoc looked shocked by his attitude for half a second, and in that moment 2D felt highly pleased with himself. If that was how it felt for the others when they stood up to the bassist, he could see why they did it so often.

As soon as that half second ended, 2D remembered why he didn't talk like that around Murdoc. The man was out of his seat and grabbing a fistful of his collar before 2D could react. He didn't fight it when Murdoc slammed him against the nearest wall.

"Wanna run that by me again, Face-Ache?"

At the close proximity 2D could smell the beer on his breath and he swallowed hard, that pleasant feeling for standing up to Murdoc long gone, probably never to come back. His irritation quickly bled away to fear, and then resignation. He knew there was no fighting off Murdoc. He'd pushed him a bit too far, so anything that happened next would be his fault.

Still, he thought of some way he could diffuse the situation. Because if there was anything worse than having his morning routine interrupted, it was having it interrupted while also getting the crap kicked out of him.

He dropped his eyes to the floor and shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to egg Murdoc on by speaking. He tensed his body even so, expecting a punch at the very least. To his utter astonishment, though, all Murdoc did was shove him hard against the wall again with a snarl.

He released him and headed for the kitchen after that. 2D blinked several times, watching the man's disappearing back while trying to work out in his head what exactly had happened. It didn't take as long as it normally might have, because when Murdoc passed a frowning Noodle, it made sense. Murdoc didn't tend to give thorough beatdowns in front of the young woman, and though he'd never say it aloud, 2D suspected it was because Murdoc was just as attached to Noodle as the rest of them. It was just another reason to be happy about Noodle's presence in his life.

As the bassist brushed past her, though, 2D doesn't miss the grumbled comment of his.

"Idiot's lucky I don't have another whale."

2D flinched despite his best efforts to remain calm and he knew that even if Murdoc had said it in a generalized way, he'd meant for him to hear it- he was underhanded like that. He knew exactly what to say to get under his skin.

Music came blasting from the kitchen soon after that and 2D finally paid attention to Noodle, who was looking at him with a curious tilt of her head. He smiled a little and waved in greeting.

"Are you okay?"

"Mhmm." 2D nodded, even though everything in his brain was chiding him for lying to her. He reasoned that it didn't really matter- he was used to it, at any rate.

He sat back down on the sofa after another moment of silence, pulling his knees to his chest as he let his eyes lock on the television. Noodle came to join him, sitting directly at his side and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"What are you watching, Toochie?"

The nickname normally would've made him smile fondly at her, but he barely looked at her this time around. He shrugged. He couldn't focus on what was actually flashing across the screen, though if Murdoc had been watching it he assumed it was a raunchy music video or something. He wasn't actually trying to watch anyways, but still, he couldn't have even if he wanted to, so he gave up and instead turned his attention towards Noodle.

He was thankful for her presence, and not just because she'd saved him from further abuse from their band leader. He liked spending time with Noodle. She was so nice to him, and she seemed to actually enjoy his company, which was a nice change of pace for him. The fact that she could also get Murdoc to chill out was a perk.

The moment he caught sight of her face in the corner of his eye he found her staring right back at him. Startled, he flicked his gaze towards where Murdoc had disappeared. He wondered if he should've thanked Noodle, for her help, even if helping hadn't been her intention. There wouldn't be any harm in doing so. Knowing Noodle, she'd probably just shrug it off with a smile.

"Fank you, by the way."

Noodle paused, looking at him with confusion even as she nodded, and even if he was the idiot Murdoc so loved to point out, 2D got where the look his coming from and elaborated.

"For distracting Murdoc, I mean."

"Oh." Noodle blinked, her eyebrows pulling together. "Sure."

That was all she said and 2D wondered what she was thinking about. She still looked pretty confused about his gratitude, but he couldn't understand why; she knew how Murdoc could be, after all- she'd almost been on the receiving end a few times. Or maybe she wasn't thinking about anything and was just tired still. That wouldn't have come as a big shock to him, seeing as how she usually slept until a little later. Everyone usually woke later. He had odd sleep habits, so he was usually asleep and awake when nobody else was.

As he was about to let it go and shift his attention back to the telly, Noodle spoke, and her question was decidedly unexpected.

"Aren't you afraid of whales?"

"Er- yes?" 2D squinted one eye and tilted his head to look at her better. He wasn't sure where that question had come from.

"What was Murdoc talking about when he said you're lucky he doesn't have another one?"

2D froze. He hadn't been prepared to answer any questions along the lines of "whales", and he was even less prepared to answer that one. He knew how to answer the question, sure, it had an easy answer. Not a simple one, by any means, but an easy one. He bit his lip, turning his attention back to the spot past Noodle's head, half expecting Murdoc to appear.

He wasn't supposed to talk about it- wasn't supposed to tell anyone what happened on Plastic Beach. Murdoc wouldn't be happy if he did. He wouldn't be happy at all.

Somehow, that knowledge only made him want to tell Noodle exactly what had happened. There were only so many times he could go against the bassist's wishes, and he liked to take every chance he got, just to remind himself that the man didn't control him, because he was his own person. 2D wondered if Murdoc even knew he still remembered everything about Plastic Beach. He doubted he did, since Murdoc was always the one quick to tell people that 2D didn't remember much- he was more of a pretty face than a brain.

Yeah, Murdoc wouldn't be happy whatsoever, and wasn't that just what made defying him all the more appealing? Because spiting the bassist right then would have been pretty fun. However, the way the throbbing sensation in his throat from before still hadn't left, reminding him exactly why, no matter how tempting, it wasn't a good idea.

No, he should stay quiet about it, not tell anyone- though he doubted anyone would believe him if he did, since they saw him as the brain damaged moron... But even brain damaged people knew when they were being treated badly.

The word "nothing" built up in his throat but died on his tongue when he glanced and saw Noodle giving him that patient, imploring face.

He shouldn't say anything to her, true, but he also couldn't not tell her. Holding back would make him feel even worse, because this was Noodle, the girl he'd watched -albeit through intervals- grow up, the one who'd managed to form a strange but special bond with each of the band members- even Murdoc, which, was astonishing to that day. And he knew she wouldn't degrade him for his fears and pain, and she wouldn't give Murdoc a reason to hurt him if he told her.

Besides, they'd been separated for a long time and he missed being able to just talk to someone without having to worry they were going to laugh at him or something equally bad. He'd missed the security of having a trustworthy confidant- hell, he'd missed talking to anyone who didn't have an ulterior motive for entertaining him. He'd missed… He'd missed her. He'd just missed her, and that was all it came down to. It was Noodle and she wanted to know what's wrong and he wanted nothing more than to tell her.

2D looked over her shoulder again, where Murdoc was only a room away, music blasting loud enough that if he was quiet he wouldn't be heard. Paranoid as it may have been, he had to be sure nothing he said would be overheard. Once he was satisfied with the security of the room, 2D took a deep breath and fixed his attention back on the TV; even if he was going to talk about the happenings of that time, he didn't want to look at her.

"Well, see…" He hesitated on where to start. It was hard, talking about the things he'd kept under wraps for what felt like such a long time. Noodle didn't rush him though, only waited patiently for him to continue.

"Well, I-I dunno exactly who did it- I fink it was Murdoc, but he says it was that, um, that Boogieman, an… I dunno. But a-anyways, they kidnapped me. They sorta um, gassed me and, um, shipped my in suitcase to Plastic Beach an' such."

He staved off a shudder at the memory of being trapped inside that small cage, choking on his breath as he tried to understand what was going on before finally being able to get the damned bag to pop open and release him. He still didn't completely believe Murdoc when he insisted that the dark creature was the one who'd captured him, because it seemed more likely that the bassist would have been the one to do it, considering his track record. However, Murdoc seemed stuck to that story, so 2D had no choice but to at least accept that that was the only sort of confession he was going to get from the man.

"An' Murdoc," he continued, lowering his voice at the mention of the person in the opposite room, "he wanted me to sing for the new album an' everyfing, so h-he kept me inside a, um, a room under the beach. It was in under the water, actually. See, he, he ah, wan'ed me to sing, an' when I didn't wanna, he didn't like that- you know h-how he gets."

2D wrapped his arms around his knees, staring at the dirty surface of the coffee table as he gnawed on his lip. He didn't feel like he needed to say exactly what Murdoc did when he wasn't pleased with his refusal to do what he wanted. Noodle could probably figure it out based on what she knew of Murdoc, and how she'd seen him treat him in the past.

He didn't want to have to say it aloud, how Murdoc had been moodier than usual because of everything that had been going on during that time, and had taken that moodiness out on him. How he'd forced him to stay locked up for days, or even weeks on end until he needed him to perform. Any illusions that 2D held about Murdoc caring about him as a friend and not just a band-mate had been shattered and pulverised during that time. And he'd been so angry about that. He'd never wished death on Murdoc more than he had during his days on that stupid island.

He felt bad about it now, but when Cyborg Noodle had tried to murder her creator, 2D hadn't felt particularly concerned for Murdoc's health. Now, he knew he would've been sad, if for no other reason than because Murdoc was the backbone of the band a lot of the time- but no, he would've been sad for other reasons. They were reasons that confused and upset him, but he chose not to think about those- he barely understood his own brain sometimes, he didn't need to have those weird and nonsensical thoughts running around. Murdoc had done nothing but hurt him since the day they'd met, so why did he still care what might happen to him?

2D shook his head with a heavy sigh. He didn't care to think about that stuff; it did nothing but make his head hurt. He didn't want to make it hurt any more than it already was. He thought about getting up to grab some pills, but didn't because he remembered he was supposed to complete the story for Noodle. Noodle, who wouldn't be very pleased if he left her alone because he wanted drugs.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose instead, hoping to relieve some of the pressure building up in his skull as he went on.

"So yeah, um, while he had me down there, he kept this whale guardin' me. Don' even know how he did that. Said he paid the thing." 2D swallowed hard at that particular memory.

Out of everything that had happened on Plastic Beach to scare him, that had to have been the worst. Murdoc, he was used to, so it had just been a matter of readjusting. But that whale… with those huge eyes and slimy looking skin and impossible amount of teeth in constant close vicinity…

He couldn't hold back a shudder that time and Noodle touched his arm out of concern. He closed his eyes and laughed softly. "It was so big an' it would just swin around and around me room all day. Jus' starin' at me with it's giant eyes, laughin' at me. Murdoc knows how scary they are…"

He really had been so scared. He'd never felt that level of fear in his life, being so near the thing that terrified him and knowing he had nowhere to run in order to escape it. It had left him unable to think straight, and sleeping had been near impossible during those days. When Murdoc had first announced who his warden would be, 2D thought it might have been easier if the man had just punched him in the stomach until he bled out.

His eyes burned and 2D was quick to try and wipe the moisture away before it could become noticeable. He didn't mean to cry, but it seemed he couldn't stop himself. Remembering everything all over again and saying the words aloud turned out to be a lot more emotionally straining than he'd thought it would be.

He looked at Noodle over his arms and found her looking shocked. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, and for some reason, he both did and didn't want to know. He said nothing, though, leaving to whatever was running through her head while he tried to quiet the sniffles that escaped him.

When a particularly loud sniff was pulled from him Noodle began rubbing tight circles on his back.

"Murdoc did that?"

She sounded genuinely perplexed by the very thought of that being truth that 2D wanted to cry even more. He didn't though. He nodded instead.

"Y-yeah."

Noodle's expression suddenly went startlingly blank.

"Really."

She sounded… 2D hadn't heard Noodle mad a lot before, but he knew she sounded something like that. Somehow, though, this was worse than the mad he knew to expect from her. This time, it sounded like she was livid, like how Murdoc got before he really went to town on someone for irritating him. It made 2D flinch and he sniffled again, the tears suddenly falling harder.

He'd already figured nobody would believe him, sure, but he'd also trusted that at the very least, Noodle wouldn't judge him. However, her tone suggested she was doing just that. He'd already expected disbelief, but hearing Noodle honestly question him, like she really couldn't believe what he'd said, hurt so much- maybe even more than anything nasty Murdoc had ever said about him.

2D hid his face in his arms and tried to quiet the sobs that were pulling themselves from his lips. He hadn't meant to make Noodle angry, and yet he'd still managed to. It seemed he just couldn't do anything right lately.

"S-sorry."

The circling on his back stopped suddenly.

"What are you sorry about?"

He shrugged and took a deep breath to try and calm down, but only succeeded in adding hiccups to his growing list of problems.

"M- I… I dunno, makin' you mad an'…"

"Oh, Toochie, no." Noodle sighed, and the sound was almost sad. The hand on his back shifted and 2D stifled a yelp when he was suddenly being enveloped in the younger woman's arms. He stiffened, not sure what to do with the change in events, not sure if he could do anything. He wasn't exactly sure why Noodle was hugging him in the first place, though he wasn't about to complain- he'd missed hugs.

"I'm not mad at you," she said quietly, "and I'm so sorry that happened to you."

2D didn't realize how much he'd needed to hear those exact words until they were running into his ears and wrapping his head and heart in an embrace as tight as the one his body was receiving. His arms moved without permission to wrap around Noodle, and 2D clung to her as his sobs came out louder.

Of course he'd misinterpreted her reaction, of course he had. He was stupid, after all, when did he not make mistakes? Of course Noodle cared. She was Noodle and she always cared. That nature was what made her Noodle.

It had been a long time, it felt, since somebody cared.

He cried harder because of that too, and soon enough he was stuck hiccuping and wiping globs of snot on his shirtsleeve to keep them out of Noodle's hair. He knew he should've felt embarrassed for breaking down like that, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Crying made him feel better sometimes; it was what he did when things got to be too much, and now was no different. Noodle wasn't judging him him for it, that much he now knew.

She shushed him every time he whimpered loudly and the two of them remained like that until his sobs died down and his breathing evened out. He didn't release her immediately though, and she didn't try to pull away. She gave him a tight squeeze and he gave her a wet chuckle in return.

"Feel better?"

2D wasn't sure how he felt, honestly. He'd gone through a lot of feelings in the past several minutes and then he'd emptied them all out and now… now he just felt a content sort of empty. He probably could've fallen back asleep, honestly, but doing so would only further wreck his already strange sleeping schedule.

For Noodle's sake, he nodded. It was easier to do that than explain his lack of functioning feelings. Besides, it was nice to not focus on how he felt for a second and simply enjoy the comfort of being embraced by someone who cared about him.

However comforting Noodle was to him though, his mind caught up with him eventually and he was left with the realization that before his complete breakdown, Noodle had been utterly pissed off. But she hadn't been angry with him. But that also had to mean that she was… angry with Murdoc.

The very thought of that was a novel concept to him- sure, all the band-mates got mad at Murdoc for one reason or another in the past, but he'd never heard that level of anger in Noodle's voice directed at anyone in their dysfunctional little family. It made him wonder if she would have done anything if he hadn't melted down like that.

"Noodle?"

"Mmm?"

"Did you-"

"For fuck's sake, can ya stop sniveling long enough for me to write this damn bit?"

Murdoc stood to the side, a hand on his hip and a pen clenched in the other. He glared at him and 2D shrunk back instinctively. He knew Murdoc hadn't heard anything he'd been talking about, but that didn't stop fear from raising its ugly head when he saw him. The fact that Murdoc had heard him at all, even with the music going as loud as it had, wasn't a great comfort to him.

Noodle tensed beside him too and 2D's eyes widened, the irrational part of his brain screaming at him that he shouldn't have said anything to her, because she was going to tell Murdoc and then he was going to be in trouble. And that only led him to feel extremely embarrassed, because he was a grown man, he shouldn't have been allowing himself to feel so small and cornered by a guy who was shorter and more of a bitch than him.

And then he felt horrible for even entertaining the idea that Noodle would rat him out like that. Noodle wouldn't do something like that- she knew how important trust was, and how much he didn't like Murdoc. So she'd be quiet about the whole thing.

All he really needed to do was reply to Murdoc in a way that would placate him so that he would go back to his work and leave them be.

"Sorry, Mur-" Noodle put a hand over his mouth and muffled the rest of the apology.

He sent her a curious look and her response was to let go of him and get slowly up from the sofa. She was being very calm, and that was a bit alarming, though he couldn't put his finger on why exactly that was. At least not until she was standing right in front of Murdoc, driving her fist into his gut.

The man grunted and tried not to double over as 2D shot up from the couch and hovered behind Noodle, who was picking up Murdoc up by the collar and shoving him into the wall while pulling him down to her level, much like he'd done to 2D not too long ago.

"N-Noodle stop, really it's- it's fine."

He put a hand on her shoulder, figuring he'd just pull her back and that would be the end of it. Shockingly enough, however, she shrugged him off and landed another blow on Murdoc in the same motion.

"What are you on about, love?" The man growled, clearly winded by the punch but trying not to show it.

2D only stared on in growing worry when Noodle smacked Murdoc in the face, giving him a bloody lip. He'd never seen the girl so violent before, and he wondered warily if this was a special situation for such a side of her to surface, or if this was what he could expect from the new Noodle. She hadn't seemed any different from before when they'd first met back up- maybe a bit more mature and weighed down by her journey, but that was it.

Noodle continued with the beating and 2D was even more shocked when he didn't see Murdoc lift a finger to defend himself. Perhaps he was too surprised to fight back, or maybe he just couldn't bring himself to hurt Noodle, 2D couldn't quite figure it out. He did know that this wasn't like Noodle and it hit him just how mad she was with Murdoc, and suddenly, every punch that landed felt like a physical blow to him, because he knew he was responsible for the whole ordeal.

"Noodle, please stop."

He asked that several times before Noodle finally slowed down to reveal Murdoc's bloodied and bruised face. It didn't look as bad as 2D's been anticipating, but it still looked painful enough that he cringed upon seeing it.

When Noodle released him, Murdoc he groaned, wiping a drizzle of drool and blood from his mouth while he frowned down at the woman.

"I suppose that was a long time coming."

His tone was airy enough, which seemed paradoxical, considering the displeased expression he wore. Noodle only glared at him in response and Murdoc chuckled.

"Fair enough. But I do think it's fair to let me know what that was all about?"

Noodle's glare only seemed to intensify and 2D had to resist the urge to grab her, fearing she might lunge at the bassist again. The silence stretched on for several uncomfortable seconds before Noodle finally reached out to latch onto his hand. 2D looked down and squeezed tightly, more to make sure she was staying put than anything. When he looked back between the two, he saw Noodle's eyes narrowed until they were almost slivers and she was meeting Murdoc's gaze dead on.

"You touch him again and you'll be answering to me."

Murdoc's eyes lit with understanding then and 2D flinched when the man turned a hateful glare his way. He didn't know what Murdoc was going to do to him, but he didn't look forward to whatever it was. He waited for an attack that never came and started again when Noodle cleared her throat impatiently.

Murdoc seemed to have a short internal battle as his eyes flicked from 2D to Noodle and back again, but eventually one side won and he growled once more before giving a single, sharp nod. 2D had to be careful not to gawp like a fish out of water. Seeing Murdoc listen to someone else was a rare sight, and seeing it be done on his behalf was even rarer still.

Noodle gave a satisfied nod of her own before tightening her grip on his hand, moving to lead 2D away, back upstairs. 2D followed willingly, wanting nothing more than to be far away from the man attempting to murder him with his hateful glares.

Before they could disappear around the corner though, 2D turned to check if Murdoc was still staring at their retreating figures. He was, and he met the bassist's bruised gaze long enough to see a flash of, maybe -almost?-, regret, before it was washed away by a look that told 2D he'd have to tread very carefully around him if he wanted to live. It also said that he'd better be glad Noodle was around, because if she hadn't been, things likely would've turned out much different.

2D gulped and turned back around to pay attention to where they were going. He asked Noodle what she planned on doing and she shrugged.

"Wanna play video games?"

The offered distraction was a welcome one and 2D smiled as he nodded, though the expression didn't come anywhere near his eyes. Because even though he now knew how far Noodle would go to protect him, and that knowledge warmed his heart, he had to deal with the fact that he'd created a permanent rift between Noodle and Murdoc.

And that was something Murdoc would never forgive him for.

Even if it was never said in so many words, they all knew Noodle was Murdoc's favorite. He was just as attached to her as any of them. That was why he'd never taken the time to look for a new guitarist, instead spending his time creating a cyborg that looked exactly like the band member they couldn't find. It was probably why he hadn't hit Noodle right back, and it was most certainly why he'd nodded along with what she said. Because, whether he admitted it or not -and he never would- Murdoc, in his own weird way, cared about Noodle as much as the rest of them.

So it was very unfortunate for him that she happened to care about 2D, something he couldn't feel completely bad about. He liked having someone who liked him enough to defend him against those who wanted to harm him. He felt cared about and like he was protected, and that was a little more of a new feeling for him, and it was nice.

Even so, he knew the fact that he'd probably, accidentally ruined that relationship, was going to haunt him for a long while.

In the end, the whole ordeal was rather bittersweet.

A/N: I don't hate Murdoc, by the way. I just have very mixed feelings about him, and I don't like the way he treats people.

#Gorillaz #phase three #fanfiction #my writing #my ff #2d gorillaz #murdoc niccals #Noodle #platonic and familial love folks #I'm new to the fandom please be gentle #this was fun #but I feel so bad for being so mean to everyone #I just noticed how in the Do Ya Thing video Murdoc was being a jerk #but not as bad as usual #and my made did a thing as to why that might be #heh #of course Noodle's gonna protect the boy #Sorry

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motherboxing · 8 years ago

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WHO’S THAT HAWKPERSON (ladies edition)

This has been bugging me because every time I post stuff about Hawkpeople, people tag it with the wrong names. Worse still, I keep seeing stuff about how Kendra is the reincarnation of Shayera Thal, which is just irritating to me because the reincarnation stuff makes Hawk mythos things ENOUGH of a mess already. Anyway I hope this helps. Let’s get started. This is under a cut because it’s very long and probably quite pedantic.

This is Shiera Saunders-Hall. She was the first ever Hawkgirl. She is a human, from Earth! She’s married to Carter Hall, the first ever Hawkman, who is also a human from Earth. These two are the Hawks Mark One - they were introduced during the Golden Age and their backstory is probably one you are familiar with if you follow Legends Of Tomorrow or any contemporary stuff in DC Comics with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. This is how Shayera Thal explains the whole thing back in 2003:

Shiera and Carter can fly with wings and harnesses constructed from Nth metal, and they use ancient weapons, which is kind of cool, but they aren’t really superpowered themselves, they’re just kind of weirdly-dressed adventurers - they’re both archaeologists, and spend a lot of time using their memories of their past lives to track down artifacts, preserve languages, etc. Still, they were members of the Justice Society Of America until their eventual retirement.

This is Shayera Hol. She was the second-ever Hawkgirl. She’s an alien from Thanagar. She is married to Katar Hol, also an alien from Thanagar. They both are essentially detectives/police officers. These iterations of these characters were introduced during the Silver Age. Katar and Shayera Hol, like Carter and Shiera Saunders-Hall, get their powers of flight from the Nth metal harnesses and wings that they wear, but they also have a few added bonuses - enhanced vision, stronger than the average human, able to talk to birds (although not command them, unless the bird in question is willing to cooperate). They also have advanced knowledge of all human history and culture because of a device called the absorbascon. They run a museum in Midway City and keep their identities as aliens a secret. These iterations of the Hawks have been retconned out of current continuity, replaced with different, contemporary versions of the characters who were introduced in the 90′s. They basically only continue to exist in Elseworlds and in other alternate universe-type storylines - and sometimes in other media, for example:

That is also Shayera Hol! She is Hawkgirl in the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited cartoons. Notably, her wings are actually a physical part of her body, as they are with all Thanagarians in that particular universe (although not, as we see in the Beyond-verse, with people who are half-Thanagarian, since Shayera and John Stewart’s son does not nave natural wings). This Shayera Hol is kind of an interesting spin on a number of different Hawkladies - she has the name, alien origins, and costume design of the Silver Age Hawkgirl, the reincarnation backstory of the Golden Age Hawkgirl, and the overall chip on her shoulder that Shayera Thal is kind of notorious for.

I’m not REALLY gonna get into Elseworld’s or New 52 stuff because Elseworlds are irrelevant and New 52 stuff irritates me generally (although Kendra Munoz-Saunders is cool, she can stay) and anyway I’m only PARTIALLY trying to explain continuity here, the main point of this post is not “trying to fit all these characters into a cohesive narrative” it’s “explaining the differences between them as characters”

Next we have Sharon Parker. This is Sharon Parker:

Poor, martyred Sharon Parker, you never had a chance :(

Sharon Parker was a human woman from Earth who had the misfortune of marrying a Thanagarian spy named Fel Andar. Fel Andar’s job was to infiltrate Earth’s superhero community and report back to Thanagar in advance of the Invasion! storyline, an arc in which a coalition of alien forces that included Thanagar attempted to invade Earth. She discovered her husband’s deception and he killed her before fleeing back to Thanagar, but she was able to warn Martian Manhunter and a couple other JLI members about what was happening before she died.

Sharon Parker was basically created to explain why there was a Hawkman and Hawkgirl active in the Justice League International after Carter and Shiera supposedly retired, but before Katar Hol and Shayera Thal arrived on Earth in the 1990 series Hawkworld. This never made a whole lot of sense and most people have basically forgotten it. Sharon Parker does not come up basically ever in any contemporary stuff about the Hawkladies, and identifying her is tricky because you rarely see her out of costume ever and her costume is a pretty generic Silver Age-inspired bit, but I REMEMBER YOU, SHARON. YOUR SACRIFICE WAS NOT IN VAIN.

Oh, also, she’s Golden Eagle’s mother, but hoooooly shit is that a mess so, uh. Never mind.

Okay. Next in line to wear a weird feathered helmet in the dubious name of justice is Shayera Thal. This is her:

Shayera Thal is a soldier from Thanagar. She is crime-fighting partners with, but not married to, Katar Hol, another soldier from Thanagar. I say “soldier” but the police force and military on Thanagar are basically the same entity - they’re cops, essentially, in a fascist regime. After Invasion!, Thanagar decides to open diplomatic relations with Earth, and sends Katar and Shayera to Earth as ambassadors, where the media just kind of decides that they are the new Hawkpeople now, although Shayera absolutely draws the line at being called “Hawkgirl” and insists on being called Hawkwoman because it’s the 90′s, dude! Of course they both have ulterior motives (Katar is hunting an intergalactic fugitive; Shayera is spying on Katar because he’s secretly fomenting antifascist rebellion efforts on Thanagar) but, moved by what they learn about humanity, they eventually (after a series of intergalactic incidents that mostly involve more fomenting rebellion) break with their homeworld entirely and settle on Earth. During this time they also fall in love and are pretty adorable.

At this point there’s a whole bunch of VERY messy bullshit about the Nth metal and the general Hawkpeople mythos that I won’t get into because it wasn’t really sustainable in terms of plot and I hated so much of the stuff that it led to in the mid-90′s, but the important thing to know is that Katar Hol was at one point fused with every single incarnation of Carter Hall ever and also a spirit from the Red that embodies the hawk and as a result he went completely nuts and was basically mercy-killed by a mystic named Arion and Martian Manhunter, leaving Shayera alone on Earth, where she more or less remained in relative obscurity, until returning for a role in the Rann-Thanagar War, where she was regrettably fridged.

Now we get Kendra Saunders, my precious soft daughter! Kendra Saunders is, in most media now, the current Hawkgirl. Remember how the original Hawks, Carter and Shiera, get reincarnated all the time? Kendra is the reincarnation of Shiera, who, weirdly, was also her great-aunt. Kendra had kind of a rough childhood (her parents were murdered, and she was raised by a relative, who did his best but wasn’t super equipped to deal with a grieving young woman with obvious mental health issues) and attempted suicide as a teenager, at which point the soul of Shiera Saunders manifested in her body, saving her life. Sometimes she has access to Shiera’s memories, and sometimes she acts like Shiera, because she may or may not like, psychically BE Shiera. Anyway, following this she starts training as Hawkgirl and joins the JSA, where she participates in the resurrection of Carter Hall, with whom she forms a tentative partnership, because he looks at her and sees like, his wife of the past thousands of years, and she looks at him and sees, like, her great-uncle, and is like, “this is creepy and weird”. Because it is. It is creepy and weird.

GROSS, DUDE! Carter Hall is a dick.

Anyway, there have also been a few different takes on Kendra in various other media, obviously she’s in Legends Of Tomorrow:

which has caused me to literally transcend this plane of existence but who cares. Legends Of Tomorrow Kendra is basically comics Kendra but with a little bit of additional Hawk mythos stuff thrown in for good measure (possibly possessed by a hawk-type spirit/god, for example, as happened to Katar Hol in the comics - no spoilers for the show though, I’m actually not totally caught up on it right now). There is also a version of Kendra in Earth-2:

who is kind of an amalgamation of a bunch of different Hawk characters.

I actually am not totally sure about Kendra’s current status in the comics - there was at some point a plot where Kendra just like, turned back into Shiera, and I hated it and basically ragequit Hawk stuff and I still have not fully recovered. However, that’s MORE OR LESS what you need to know about various iterations of the Hawk ladies.

On the surface, this all seems pretty easy to understand, right? Shayera is an alien, Shiera and Kendra are humans and also kind of but not really the same person. It gets a little fussy when you try to tell the complete story of every Hawk lady in order but if you put continuity aside and just focus on the individual characters it’s easy enough to make the distinction.

Now please stop tagging your reblogs of my posts about Shayera Thal with ‘Shayera Hol’ and ‘Hawkgirl’ and ‘Kendra Saunders’ because it’s making me sad.

#crying about Thanagarians

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snowdice · 4 years ago

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Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 49]

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

I have a bit to edit right now. Not sure how much I’ll write on this, but I’ll do it for a while.

Chapter 20

Logan let out a slow breath as his father closed the door behind him. That could have been very, very bad. He turned his attention to Virgil and Patton. Patton had curled himself around Virgil as much as physically possible and had tucked the boy’s head under his chin.

Logan slowly rounded the bed and knelt in front of them. “It’s alright,” Logan said, cautiously moving to put a hand on his shoulder. Virgil didn’t pull away. “I asked him to leave. It’s alright.”

Virgil tilted his head slightly too look at him. Logan rubbed a circle into his back as he slowly got control of his breath.

Logan smiled softly at him and reached out to touch his cheek with a gentle hand. “You… didn’t hurt him. You didn’t even try to hurt him.”

Virgil shook his head.

“Why not?” Logan asked curiously. “It was a perfect opportunity.”

“Promised Patton,” Virgil mumbled, and the idea that perhaps the thing that had saved his father’s life was a pinky promise just about gave Logan a migraine, but then Virgil ducked his head. “And it would make you sad.”

“I see,” Logan said, heart in his throat.

Virgil kept looking towards the floor, his eyes starting to fill with tears again. “Are you going to turn me in now?”

He was shaking and barely holding back a fresh wave of tears. Logan knew of course that no one would hurt him here if he turned him in to his father and the guards, but he also knew that Virgil would be terrified if he did so. He was already terrified. Logan didn’t want to know what he thought the fate Logan would be condemning him to.

“No,” Logan said before he could even truly think it through. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Virgil asked.

“Well, there wouldn’t really be a point, would there?” Logan asked. “The reason we planned to turn you when father got back in is because you posed a danger to him, but you have just demonstrated that is no longer an issue.”

“Really?” Virgil asked, sniffling a bit and Logan saw Patton’s arms tighten even more around him.

“We will have to figure out a better cover for you than just that you’re new to the castle, but I believe it will work fine. No one besides the two of us would ever guess your origin anyway.”

“S-so I can stay?” Virgil asked, “and you won’t throw me into prison or execute me?”

“I promise you were never going to be executed Virgil,” Logan said. “Even if we turned you in, but yes you can stay with us. We’ll figure out a backstory for you that doesn’t involve assassinations and you’ll have to keep up the lie, but I doubt anyone will question it.”

“I’ll do whatever you want,” Virgil said, chocked up. “Thank you. I really didn’t want to go.”

“Well, you’re our friend now so there will be no going anywhere,” Patton said kissing him on the cheek. Virgil relaxed back into his hold, pleased with the affection.

Logan smiled at them both. “Can I see your wrists, Virgil?”

Virgil blinked but offered them and Logan tapped the restraints doing a quick incantation. They popped off after a moment.

“You’re letting me go?” Virgil asked, eyes wide.

“Of course,” Logan said. “We’re not just going to keep you prisoner for no reason.”

“That’s…” Virgil said, eyes watering as he clearly was trying not to cry. “You’re the best people I’ve ever met.”

“I wish that was not so clearly the case,” Logan replied. He slowly reach up and set a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go speak with my father. Patton will stay with you.”

“Okay,” Virgil agreed, seeming a bit hesitant.

Logan smiled softly and leaned forward to gently touch their foreheads together. “I will be right back,” he assured. “We will finish our slumber party, though perhaps we will table the rest of the dress up activity for another night.”

He stood then, leaving Virgil in Patton’s capable hands to exit his own bedroom and cross the hallway to his father’s. He took a brief moment to compose himself before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” his father called.

Logan opened the door to see his father sitting on one of the armchairs in his room. Despite the almost disaster that had taken place a few minutes ago, Logan found himself smiling at the man. It was nice to have him home.

“Sorry about that,” Father said.

“It was more my fault than yours. If I knew there was a risk of you coming home today, I wouldn’t have left him alone.”

“Is he alright?”

“I believe so,” Logan answered. “Patton is with him and will certainly smooth out any lingering distress.”

“Good,” his dad said. “That’s good.” There was a pause and then he gestured at the seat beside his.

Logan settled himself down on it. “How was your trip?” he asked. “You’re back a week early.”

“Yes,” Father said. “The trip went better and worse than anticipated.

“How so?” asked Logan curiously.

“Well,” Dad said. “The purpose of the trip was to convince the new queen of Lamir, Cecil not to ally with Mocnejsi, but by the time I’d arrived there wasn’t really a risk of that.”

“Why not?”

“After investigation, it turned out that Cecil’s mother had been poisoned by an assassin from Mocnejsi.”

“Oh,” Logan said, mind already racing.

“They figured out that one of the young women who had been hired on in the kitchen for the winter had done it, and had learned her origin when they questioned her,” Dad informed him. “Considering Cecil was immediately approached for an alliance with Mocnejsi, their aim was likely to manipulate her going forward because of how young she is. Luckily, Cecil is a smart girl and has the help of her mother’s advisor as well as her own. By the time I got there, my only real role was to extend my condolences and reaffirm out alliance. I would have stayed longer, but the possibility that Mocnejsi may think to attack us in a similar way hastened me home.”

“That…” Logan said. “That is wise. I assume you are going to institute more security.”

“I am, yes,” Dad replied. “I would like your input on plans in the coming day.”

“Of course,” Logan agreed.

Dad smiled at him, “But for now,” he said, “I think it’s time you get back to your slumber party and I get to finally go to sleep.”

Logan nodded and got to his feet. He leaned over to hug his father perhaps a bit longer and harder than was strictly necessary, but Dad did not seem to mind at all. “Goodnight,” Logan said.

“Goodnight, son.”