#fledgling!virgil

[anarchswild]

FangFest '24 - Day 12

Virgil, the True Brujah Gangrel Sheriff. Yes he looks exactly like Blade, to the point people comment on it in-game. Despite deciding to take the role of "Dad" to the two new fledglings in his city, the two of them seem to keep doing his job for him. Sure, he's raising up the Brujah to be a Hound, but it's getting ridiculous. Taking out the Demon, the Mage, and the Werewolf in the city? What's left for him to do out here.

[delimeful]

OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! FLUFFY WIBAR BABYS!!!!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!! VIRGIL IS JUST SO CONCERNED WHILE THE BABIES ARE JUST "YES! TREE! LAUNCH PAD! PATTON APPROVES SO THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR" WHILE VIRGIL IS LIKE "THERE IS EVERYTHING TO FEAR! THEY ARE SO FLUFFY AND CUTE I WILL DIE BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE I MIGHT SQUISH THEM!"

I love that Logan just pulls out a camera. He's so interested in learning about Humans "oh God it's cute I must save it" instinct. Roman gets to witness Human Childcare Instinct in real time.

^ real footage of virgil when faced with ampen fledglings

[docgold13]

Heroes & Villains The DC Animated Universe - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

Gear

Richard ‘Richie’ Foley grew up in Dakota City and was best friends with Virgil Hawkins.  When Virgil gained super powers from the Quantum Vapor, he decided to use them to become a costumed superhero and Richie helped him.  Naturally gifted in computer technology and engineering, Richie proved an invaluable asset to Virgil in his fledgling career as the heroic Static.  

At first Richie was jealous of his friend’s newfound powers and Virgil was often annoyed by Richie’s persistent insistence on helping him.  Yet the two were able to work it out and arrived at a compromise.  In that Richie and Virgil were longtime best friends, it was important that Richie hide his identity while assisting Static.  To this end he made his own costume obscuring his identity and took on the alias of ‘Gear.’  

Richie was unaware of the fact that he too had been altered by the Quantum Vapor.  The mutagen had greatly boosted Richie’s intellectual functioning, providing him a heightened level of genius.  He used this cognitive prowess to design and build all manner of technological marvels.  

Although Richie and Virgil were close, Richie hid from his friend the fact that his father was an intolerant bigot who regularly made racists comments toward people of color.  Richie was ashamed of this and did his best to make sure that Virgil and his father never met.  Yet it was unavoidable and Richie was devastated when Virgil overheard Mr. Foley say racist things about Black people.  Angry and mortified, Richie ran away from home.  Virgil and his own father sought out Richie and assured him he need not be ashamed over his dad’s ignorance. It was on Richie to break the cycle of racism and intolerance and it was a challenge he was up to.  

Actor Jason Marsden provided the voice for Richie with the young hero first appearing in the premier episode of Static Shock.  

[pattons-second-cookie-v2]

Relationship Map for The Blood That Binds- A Sanders Sides X Vampire the Masquerade AU

There's a title now!!! From now on, posts under this project be titled and tagged with The Blood That Binds.

2 weeks ago I posted a poll asking if people would like to see Character Profiles or a Relationship Map first. The results showed a majority rule for the Relationship Map, which I am sharing today! But! I will be uploading the Character Profiles as well some time between now and the publishing of Chapter 1 (which I do still plan to release on Halloween).

Anyway, I've rambled enough- HERE'S THE MAP

So I know this is an absolute mess to look at so let me further explain how it's set up. Each character has their own color (I am aware of the shade similarity between Patton/Logan and Roman/Thomas but I genuinely couldn't think what other colors to use). The symbols next to most characters are their Clan Symbol- which I will further explain in the Character Profiles.

Characters connected by solid lines have interacted directly at least once. Characters connected by arrows have not interacted, but will interact in the beginnings of the tale. Below the cut, I've included some further explanations of the relationships.

Patton and Virgil

This is the dynamic that made me want to write this story in the first place. In this AU, Patton is Virgil's biological father. Through a misfortune that will be explained later on, Patton became a vampire when Virgil was still a baby (late 90s). Virgil grew up in the city believing his father to have passed away, all while Patton has been silently observing him from the shadows. At the time where our story takes place, Virgil has returned to the city after a little over 6 years away. And Patton is going to have a totally normal and rational reaction to seeing his son again.

Roman and Thomas

I knew I wanted to toy around with the supernatural power dynamic of a Sire Bond. And I knew I wanted Thomas specifically to be someone's Sire. In the context of the story, Roman was once Thomas' love, and was given the gift of immortality as a means to stay together forever. Thomas himself was still quite new to vampirism, and he quickly grew to regret making Roman. In the modern day, Roman is more like a lackey to Thomas. Following his beck and call in hopes of earning his favor once again. It has been over 70 years, and still Roman very much has the desperate hero vibes about him.

Roman and Virgil

Roman has spotted Virgil, and where the story picks up, he's beginning to close in. The only issue is he can't decide what exactly he'll do once he gets close to Virgil. He could make him a mindless Blood Slave. He could string him out as a forlorn lover. He could recruit him to his vampiric faction, as either a Bonded Ghoul or a fledgling vampire. His decision will drastically reform the dynamics of all those around him. But he's a little too lovestruck to realize the potential damage he could cause.

Logan and Patton

A healthy relationship?? In my toxic vampire romance? Yes, actually. Logan found Patton as a terrified fledgling who'd been abandoned by his Sire. Having roughly two decades of vampiric knowledge to rely on, Logan was quick to lend his talents to guide Patton. It became rather apparent that Patton did not take well to vampirism, and Logan's levelheadedness eased him into his new existence. In the modern nights, the two are inseparable. This is mostly at Patton's request, as he begins to grow paranoid in Logan's absence.

Janus and Remus

Janus is power-hungry and Remus is easily controlled. Janus has a few years of seniority over Remus, which he is quick to remind him of. Remus is also the only character who is beginning the story already Blood Bound. He has been Janus' thrall for since the 80s, and after spending over 30 years unbound, he just feels grateful to be noticed. He thinks being close to Janus gets him closer to Roman gets him closer to the command and power he truly craves. He views his Bond as a necessary evil. Janus views it as a means of controlling a scary guard dog.

Janus and Thomas

These two are both members of the Inner Circle, a sort of Sect within the Sect of the Camarilla. Those in the Inner Circle often interact directly with the Prince of the city (or whoever is in command) as well as following out any jurisdiction placed by the Prince. Janus and Thomas entered the Camarilla at roughly the same time, as well as being welcomed to the Inner Circle during the same night of Elysium. Their specific roles within the inner circle will be explained later.

Janus has always viewed Thomas as a potential adversary, believing that their power and influence combined could be immensely beneficial to the Camarilla. Thomas, on the other hand, is extremely jealous of Janus. He believes that their parallel rise to power is building up to an ultimate showdown where one of them will be forced to overtake the other. And he does not intend for Janus to have the advantage.

Remus and Logan

Remus has a 20 year advantage on Logan. At the time of their meeting, they were both strays who were not bound to any vampiric Sect. Remus viewed Logan as a fellow outcast, someone with skill and poise that could prove a useful asset in his major goals. Logan viewed himself as superior to Remus, believing his pragmatic approach to vampirism made him more appealing. They had a messy breakup, to put it lightly, and neither of them have made any attempt to reconnect.

Roman and Remus

These two are still canonically twin brothers. There's a lot to explain, which I will cover in better detail in each of their Character Profiles. But to summarize here: Roman became a vampire first, and has believed Remus to have passed away after being deployed during WWII. However, Remus did return home after the war, and had heard whispers of his brother joining a "secret society". Efforts to find Roman ultimately lead to Remus becoming a vampire himself. Rather than wallow over what had become his fate, Remus has instead spent the last few decades working to use his abilities as a means of finding Roman and taking all that he is.

Characters who have NOT interacted together!

Patton and Roman

Logan and Roman

Logan and Janus

Janus and Patton

Janus and Roman

Remus and Patton

Remus and Thomas

Logan and Thomas

Virgil and EVERYBODY

I believe that covers everything for now. My goal is to have a Character Profile posted every Friday between now and Halloween, and then posting Chapter One on Halloween as a way to enjoy the spooky evening. As always, if you wish to be tagged in this project, reply on this post or send me a DM.

Tag List: @sethlost @thearomanticsnake

Above board for a moment, I do want to thank everyone who has been encouraging this story. It's been a long while since I've written any major works, and I'm really excited to be worldbuilding again. So just- thanks for the kind words and the sharing and the support. Its really means a lot <3

-🍪

[touchtranscendslanguage]

how powerful is virgil in comparison to the fae princes and his own blood family? he was the most powerful witch in the MHA when he worked there but is he really powerful compared to the others?

Okay, so the magic tiers are as follows:

Phenomenal

Elite

Sublime

Master

Esteemed

Grand

Splendid

Great

Common

Novice

Fledgling

All of those tiers except phenomenal are divided into High, Mid, and Lower. Phenomenal isn't divided because it's a blanket term for anyone higher than Elite which is insanely rare. Only a handful of witches in the universe are phenomenal.

With me so far?

Your average witch is somewhere between Novice and Great.

Most of Virgil's family are somewhere between Great and Master.

The seelie princes are all either Sublime or Elite. They are all expected to move up at least one tier by the time they reach full power.

King Thomas and King Objectivity are both Phenomenal with King Thomas being the absurdly more powerful of the two. Thomas cannot be contained on a chart.

The Dragon Witch was High Elite. You know who else is High Elite? Janus. Sound proofing rooms and masking the scent of sex with just a thought sounds funny but those aren't parlor tricks. He could've reattached Virgil's arm if he'd needed to but it would've hurt like a bitch and would've done nothing for the extensive psychological damage so we're all glad that didn't happen. There are many reasons Janus is so widely feared.

Mid Elite you have Dragon Flame and Patton is Lower Elite. Patton and Janus will almost certainly end up Phenomenal.

Logan is High Sublime, Remus is Mid Sublime and surprisingly Roman is Lower Sublime. You'd think the twins would be ranked higher but they've both been very busy their whole lives and don't have a lot of downtime to really hone their skills. In truth, they'll likely end up Phenomenal too, it'll just take them longer to get there.

Dragon Song is Lower Master.

Virgil is Lower Elite. So pretty fucking powerful. He inherited more from his great-grandmother than he's comfortable with. And of course, a lot of that is a matter of luck that has nothing to do with her as her powers were diluted when passed down. He's an early bloomer - really early - but he still has room to grow and will probably bump up to Mid or High Elite. Maybe even Phenomenal, which would be a surprise.

Virgil was one of the most powerful witches in the MHA, not the most powerful. His grandmother Dragon Flame held that title. And there were a few other witches more powerful than him. But if he'd stayed? Future him might've been the most powerful.

[kentuckycaverats]

salubri ayoni update: her name is ayoni olowe and she doesn't yet have her third eye.

qamara (tremere pontifex and primogen) decides to keep ayoni and pass her off as her own childe for a few reasons:

as a minutes-old fledgling with no training she's able to draw on Corpore Sano (3rd level of Obeah) to save her sire

she doesn't actually know any Obeah, so she doesn't have a third eye (it briefly appears while she's using Corpore Sano but immediately disappears when she's finished. it does not appear again)

qamara wipes all memory of ayoni's true sire, virgil, so she has no idea that she's really a salubri. the only 2 people who know are qamara and virgil

qamara's thinking is that once ayoni is blood bound to her, and capable of such impressive healing, qamara's own longevity increases tenfold

qamara clears it with the malkavian prince as an "i found her dying and was so moved to mercy i couldn't help myself, please forgive this transgression" situation, and the prince takes to ayoni very quickly so qamara gets little more than a slap on the wrist.

she "raises" ayoni as a tremere and relentlessly tries to get her to replicate the Obeah trick, but ayoni can't do it. she doesn't remember virgil, doesn't remember that she saved him or how, and qamara doesn't know how to do it so she can't coach ayoni with any specificity. all ayoni knows is that qamara insists this is something she can do, but no amount of practice works. eventually qamara decides maybe it was the stakes, the sense of urgency, that ayoni needed. she starts presenting ayoni with victims in critical condition with only minutes to spare, and ayoni *wants* to save them. she wants to be able to fix it more than anything, but she can't. qamara keeps a tally of all the people ayoni has been unable to save to remind her of her failures; ayoni burns marks into her skin for each of them as well, and immortalizes them with Seal the Brand.

[calethelettuce]

SaSi Phantom AU: Uh oh, I'm down the AU rabbit hole again.

“Synopsis”

A modernized Phantom of The Opera AU, which combines the characters from SaSi and the premises of Phantom. Based off of Phantom’s musical timeline, with snippets taken from the 2004 movie and creative liberties taken. 

Characters (in a simple way)

Remus Destler

The titular Phantom. Is known to play tricks on patrons and the staff. Is originally known to Janus as ‘The Angel of Music’. A musical genius. Was brought to the opera house by Monsieur Sanders, who found him on the streets and took him in. The main “antagonist”. Much more sinister than the original Phantom, however he has a weak spot for Janus. Is not related to Roman in this AU.

Janus Daae

A fledgling tenor who was originally in the corps de ballet. Mentored by Remus/”His Angel of Music”. The main protagonist. Came to the opera house hoping to be a better actor and singer. Patton’s best friend.

Vicomte Roman Blanc

A French nobleman of which knew Janus at a young age. Tends to be brash and overlooks important details. High-paying patron of the opera house.

Logan Cartier

One of the two newer managers. Has a very hard time believing that the Phantom even exists. Tends to always look at things from a logical standpoint.

Virgil Mallory

The second of the new managers. Is stuck between believing in the Phantom and not. Is shown to have bursts of anger (most likely fueled from anxiety) when things in the production go wrong.

Patton Sanders

An english teen who moved to France with his father. Lead ballet dancer in productions. Janus’ best friend.

Thomas Sanders

Commonly known as Monsieur Sanders. An Englishman who moved to France with his son to work at the opera house. The “men’s” choreographer for the corps de ballet. During shows, keeps an eye on patrons in the theatre’s boxes. Considered a secondary manager.

Remy Toffette

The leading tenor for the past five seasons of productions. Is a total diva who is obsessed with any coffee he can drink. Has a terrible temper and is prone to walk out during practices.

Emile Picani

The leading bass for productions. Is often seen next to Remy. Is decently sassy. Considers himself to be charming. Has trouble with pronouncing certain things.

Julius Dubois (Orange if he was a character)

A stagehand with an affinity with scaring the ballet girls/boys with stories of the Phantom.

[hiddendreamer67]

The Human Among Dragons (1/?)

Summary: Virgil grew up a human among dragons. Patton and Logan are his Draconian parents. He’s never known the human world. And though he knows HE is different, his clan is so accommodating that he has never felt inclined to leave. Then one day, a knight enters their territory.

Read more of my writing at @hiddendreamerwriting!

——————————————————————————————————-

Virgil wasn’t an idiot. He knew he was different. While the other fledgelings had scaly armor, Virgil’s skin was still soft and unprotected. While they grew wings, Virgil was left with just the same fleshy limbs he had been born with. Whenever Virgil was caught staring down at his body Patton would be quick to assure him that “you’re just a late bloomer, I’m sure they’ll grow in soon!” Well, at least Logan didn’t lie to him like that. Virgil didn’t even resemble a baby whelp, so why on earth would he have grown up to be a fledgeling? The idea was absurd. 

Still, despite his survival flaws, Virgil’s parents didn’t love him any less. The entire tribe was more than accommodating for their weakest member. Virgil guessed that had something to do with being the chief's son, but either way his dragon family had always been nothing but kind. 

The other fledgelings were never cruel. They would exclude him from activities at times, but only when it was physically impossible for Virgil to participate- indeed, no matter how hard Virgil tried he was not capable of flight. But the games on the ground were fun. Occasionally his cousins would even take pity on him and let him win the common wrestling bouts that broke out. Patton and Logan were always nervous onlookers, but after several dozen times of Virgil assuring his dads that he was fine the dragon parents stopped hovering (literally) and allowed Virgil to interact with others on his own.

“It will be good for him to gain social skills, Lo.” Patton had suggested softly, one night when they thought Virgil was fast asleep. “If he’s going to be stuck here, I… I want him to be happy.”

Virgil didn’t know what to think about Patton’s words. He was happy here. And what was this about being stuck? Sure Virgil knew better than to try and leave the mountainside on his own, but if he was ever feeling cooped up Virgil also knew Logan would fly him down anytime for another lesson on the world below. Most of the world, anyways.

“Why don’t we ever go east?” Virgil asked one time, clutching Logan’s scales as they soared through the air. Pressed up against Logan like this it was easy to tell when his father stiffened. 

“It’s dangerous.” Logan replied. “Human civilizations are no place for a dragon.”

That seemed like strange logic. Virgil had never met a human before, but he was a firm believer that dragons should be allowed to go anywhere and do anything. After all, Logan was a freaking dragon. A proper one, with fire and wings and scales. Nothing in the entire valley could ever stand up to him- so why did Logan seem afraid?

“Are you afraid of humans?” Virgil asked. 

Logan gave a small snort of air, and Virgil couldn’t tell what was so funny. “Not all of them.” Logan admitted. “Most humans are vile, selfish creatures, and in large groups can be quite a hassle. They take what isn’t theirs, and threaten anything that is different.”

Not for the first time Virgil was glad he was found by his draconian family. He couldn’t imagine what sort of horrible things humans would have done to a defenseless, disabled dragon like him.

“Not disabled.” Patton would remind him. “Just different.”

Which, of course, was just another way of saying Virgil was very bad at being a dragon. 

------

When Virgil woke up is was with a strange feeling in his chest. Something’s wrong. His mind told him, like he was waking up from a nightmare without knowing what the danger had been. The whispered voices in the front of the cave certainly didn’t help. 

“-Scout says it’s almost here.” Logan explained, looking out into the distance. Even from here Virgil could see how his spines rose as a defense mechanism. “Everyone else has already flown out.”

“Are you certain we should do this?” Patton’s voice sounded pleading, and it set Virgil further on edge. “Perhaps we should fly out too... “

“I am the chief, it’s my duty to protect our lands.” Logan bristled. “I may be getting on in years but my intimidation tactics are as sharp as ever.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to go so far as to do something you’ll regret.” Patton winced.

“One is enough to send a sign to the others.” Logan spoke up. He shifted, chest puffed out further to display his superiority. “It’s kept them at bay for two decades, has it not?”

“Two decades ago we didn’t have Virgil.” Patton argued, and an uncomfortable silence overfell them both.

Virgil cleared his throat, not wanting to eavesdrop any longer. Both giant figures turned to him, looming over Virgil as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What’s happening?”

The elders shared a glance. “Nothing, Virgil.” Patton answered, nuzzling Virgil gently with his snout. “Go back to bed.”

“I’m not tired.” Virgil frowned, watching the way Logan tried to sneak out while Patton distracted him. “Hang on, you’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

Logan froze. “That’s none of your concern, Virgil.”

Virgil flinched at his father’s cold tone. Immediately Patton sent his partner a scolding glance, wrapping his body around Virgil in a protective manner. 

“I apologize.” Logan sighed, coming over to press his forehead against his mate in the form of an apology. He repeated the motion gently with Virgil. “It’s just, the situation is….”

“...complicated.” Patton finished Logan’s thought, realizing the chief was at a loss for words.

“Yes, thank you, Patton.” Logan smiled. “Things are complicated now.”

“Because of me?” Virgil guessed. 

“Of course not!” 

 “Only slightly.”

Their disagreement was enough of an answer for Virgil to know the truth.

“Because you’ve got to protect me.” Virgil realized quietly, looking down at his hands. His hands, so soft and pliable and useless. Every little side of the mountain was sharp enough to graze their surface. “Dads, I’m… I’m sorry.” 

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Patton insisted sternly, nuzzling even closer to Virgil. 

Logan looked down at his family, so perfectly content in their cave. He seemed to be contemplating something. “Perhaps you are correct, Patton.” Logan finally spoke. “I shall… attempt to have a more civil altercation.”

Before Virgil could ask who exactly Logan would be having a ‘civil altercation’ with, the question was answered for him by a loud presence announcing itself at the cave entrance.

“HAVE AT THEE, FOUL BEAST!” 

“Wha-? Hey!” Virgil protested, finding himself suddenly covered by Patton’s wing. What was going on? Why wouldn’t his dads let him see the intruder? The intruder who was definitely not a dragon, based on the way the voice lacked that familiar rumble. Then again, Virgil’s voice had never rumbled either.

“Strong words from the human who dares encroach on our lands.” Logan growled, so intense that Virgil almost didn’t recognize him as his father.

...a human? Virgil felt his blood run cold. 

“I am not the one encroaching.” The human scoffed, and Virgil heard some sort of shifting of metal. “You are the monsters, the ones invading our village.” 

“What!” Virgil shrieked, and in a fit of rage he was ready to take on the human himself, no matter his weaknesses. “Logan would never- MFPH!” Virgil’s cries were muffled as Patton pressed his wing against his mouth. Virgil struggled, trying to scramble over Patton’s scales to see who dared to threaten his dad. 

“Little one, I think you’re forgetting your place on the food chain.” Logan’s figure moved, looming further so that even as Virgil peeked out he couldn’t see the threat.

“Logan.” Patton’s tone held a sort of warning Virgil didn’t understand, but at least Patton was too distracted to push Virgil back under. After all, Virgil knew he was no match for Patton’s strength. 

“Stay back!” The human warned. “I will not hesitate to run you through with my blade, and spill both your blood among these rocks.”

“You will do no such thing.” Now Logan was livid, clearly just as furious as Virgil at the threat to his family members. “A puny thing like you should lack the audacity to address a specimen such as I with that tone- why, a single breath of flame will make your weapon meaningless once you’re burnt to a crisp. Or perhaps you’d rather get more personally acquainted with my razor teeth.” Logan sneered, putting them on full display.

“LOGAN!” Patton protested, standing up to get some height on his husband. Unfortunately, this brash action unsettled Virgil’s precarious spot, and with a yelp the young fleshling tumbled onto the open cave floor. 

Virgil groaned, rubbing at his head as he looked up. Both dads were staring at him, eyes wide and almost...guilty? Virgil turned to the cave entrance, finally getting a look at his first human. It was small, hardly the size of Logan’s forepaw. Instead of scaly armor, the human’s skin was soft and unprotected. It didn’t have wings, instead just a pair of fleshy limbs, one of which was holding up some sort of piece of metal. 

It...it looked just like Virgil.

“What?” Virgil’s voice was hardly a croak, trying to piece together what was happening even as his entire world view shattered.

“Aha!” The human gestured with its tool towards Virgil, and Logan put a clawed foot between them to protect his son. “I see you’ve even stooped so low as to take our kind for your own twisted horde. Don’t worry good sir, I shall rescue you in no time!”

“Wait, me? Rescue?” Virgil stood up, trying to understand as he searched the dragon’s gaze for any answers. Neither dad seemed eager to look him in the eye.

“My- prize is none of your concern.” Logan decided, pushing Virgil back with his wing even as Virgil tried to dig his feet into the ground. 

“Your prize?” Virgil spat, frustrated at the way nobody would give him answers. He didn’t like his dad’s demeaning tone, either.

“That’s it!” The human charged forwards, brandishing his weapon higher. “Have at thee!”

And just like that, all hell broke loose. The human slid beneath Logan, skirting his sharp blade against Logan’s vulnerable underside. Logan let out a roar so thunderous Virgil had to cover his ears, and it distracted him from the human charging closer. Virgil didn’t even have time to be afraid before Patton’s claws came out, batting the intruder across the room. The figure groaned, sword clattering to the ground as he hit the cave wall. 

“No!’ Virgil protested, but he wasn’t sure what exactly he was protesting.

“Logan, are you alright?” Patton hurried over to his mate, pressing his snout worriedly  against Logan’s side as the other curled up on the ground. Both of them seemed to have forgotten the human, who despite the bleeding claw marks across his chest was unsteadily getting to his feet. 

“Stop it.” Virgil growled, putting his hand up. The human stopped, but Virgil had a feeling it was more so because he heard his dads growling as well. He whirled around, putting both hands up now as he glared defiantly back at them. “You! You- stop it too!” 

“Get behind me.” The human instructed, pushing off the wall with a grunt.

“Like hell I’m doing that.” Virgil muttered, already nervous about turning his back to the human right now. Even if he was stupid enough in the head to defend their attacker, Virgil still had enough sanity to keep his distance.

“Virgil…” Logan spoke up, his voice pained. “I want you to come this way, slowly and carefully-”

“NO!” Virgil shouted, skittering back a few steps when Patton took a step forward. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. “Why- why does he look like me? What’s going on? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Virgil, please.” Patton pleaded, not coming closer. “Come back to us, kiddo.” 

Virgil jumped, a thump startling him so badly he almost bolted straight out of the cave. Virgil turned, seeing the human had collapsed face-first on the ground. “Oh that’s just great.” Virgil huffed, sneaking closer to investigate. It seemed the human was out cold. 

Virgil felt both parents' eyes on him, and he refused to back down. He was getting answers, one way or another, and that started with making sure this stupid human didn’t die on him. 

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Hi!! I've recently become obsessed with laoft and I have a question about the one shot Sleepover. When Virgil and Logan both react to tapping on the table with nail polish, is that just because it's good tap tap stim sound and they have good hearing, or is it some other fae thing? Either way, a mood. Pls pls keep on writing for laoft, it is so well written and I don't think I've ever been so attached to a fan created universe before!! Big love!

it is in fact a good good stim and they have good hearing, got it in one!

Also i’m glad you’re having fun!!! because i am also having fun!!!!!

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Virgil is a space ecologist who finds an abandoned egg on a planet ravaged by over-mining. The egg is of a snake-like species that can incorporate the DNA of other organisms into their own genome.

The egg hatches, the baby snake-alien bites Virgil and suddenly Virgil has a half-human half-snake-alien son (Janus, obvi)

(The snake-alien species isn’t really sentient by themselves, but it’s not uncommon for them to become sentient by incorporating the DNA of a sentient species. They can only make major changes like that in their fledgling stage, but later in his life Janus could make smaller changes like developing venom, or bioluminescence)

Logan is a small helper-robot (I’m thinking that little Brainiac from Superman’s fantasy in JLU). Patton is a puffball-puppy-alien that Virgil keeps as a pet. Roman and Remus are small dragon-rat-aliens that are technically pests that are infesting his ship, but since they don’t actually mess with the systems or anything, Virgil likes keeping them around.

Edit: the fic

[delimeful]

to know that song (and all its words) (9)

warnings: injury, lack of self care, fear, misunderstandings, a little bit of kidnapping, mistrust, cliffhanger

-

The dread set in as soon as Virgil dragged himself back to consciousness.

Even before he really knew what was going on, the sensation weighed heavy on him. His memories of the past three cycles were smeared into vague undefined blur, like a sand sculpture lapped at by seafoam, but the moment he opened his eyes, a distinct sense of foreboding curled up in his lungs and refused to leave.

The strangest part was that nobody else seemed to feel the suffocating weight of it.

The Humans seemed almost glued to his bedside, swapping places so smoothly that the chair set by his bedside was almost never unoccupied. He would have suspected it was a more intensive effort to keep him under watch if it weren’t for the complete lack of actual guarding going on.

(Half the time Heartfelt came in, they fell asleep with their head pillowed on their arms within a quarter-tide of sitting down. Not exactly strict warden behavior.)

It was strange. The Humans hadn’t quite reverted to their former hunted postures and exhausted eyes, but they’d unarguably been impacted by the invasion. There was a focused tension to their movements, murmured conversations in halls, an alert sort of attentiveness that they wore like a second skin.

And yet, they hadn’t turned any of that tightly-drawn energy on him.

Maybe if things were the same as before, with their weird unspoken agreement that Virgil would perform his role and not do anything stupid, and in turn they wouldn’t make the last however-long period of his life miserable with restrictions, this wouldn’t be so stressful.

But things weren’t the same. Virgil’s only useful skills involved having full use of both arms, and he’d been stripped of each and every one the moment his bone snapped on impact with the floor.

His life had been dependent on their need for someone small enough to fly the vessel for them this entire time, and now he couldn’t pilot.

They should be furious, frantic, trying to find solutions and making demands of him. Frankly, they should’ve just left him to die of shock once they realized what had happened and what it meant.

Instead, they’d settled him in the medbay with just about every medical device that might be even peripherally useful strewn about, constantly checked the information on his vital monitors, and the closest thing to a demand he received was the frequent questioning about how he felt and if he was in any pain or needed anything.

He didn’t know why they bothered asking, since they gave him dubious, disbelieving looks almost every time he brushed the question off. It wasn’t like they were his crewmates or anything, so who had tipped them off to his dislike of pain meds? They’d never even seen him injured before! Could Humans smell pain or something?

Stars and seas, he hoped not. His current plan was to bank on their ignorance of how long Ampens took to heal and get back in the pilot’s chair as quickly as possible, but that required they also be ignorant of the finer details of his injury. He’d be utterly screwed if they could somehow sense every time he re-agitated his fracture.

He would actually get started on that plan, too, except it required he was left alone long enough to actually test out how bad the pain was and sneak over to the piloting capsule, and that simply hadn’t happened even once in the past cycle of him being mostly-conscious.

Virgil felt insane for even thinking it, but the facts added up: The Humans were being clingy.

It was more subtle than expected, but once he realized, it became impossible to deny. Between the three of them, Virgil was receiving the same amount of fretting and hovering as a fledgling under the care of a first-time mother.

Sure, he’d heard rumors of Humans having fierce protective instincts, especially when it came to their young, but this level of brooding was ridiculous! Virgil was a fully-fledged adult, not a member of their pack, and completely capable of taking care of himself.

Now, he just had to make sure they knew that. Ideally without making them remember that he was currently a worthless liability to them.

Totally not stress-inducing at all, as Janus would say.

He waited until the next time Noisy was the only one watching him, since Heartfelt might not understand exactly what he was trying to say and Square looked far too exhausted and intense for him to feel good about his odds of directly asking to break a rule.

“You guys are smothering me,” he said, too wrung-out to dance around the issue. “Can I just have some time to myself, already?”

He forced himself not to bristle at the reluctant tinge that automatically sprung up to Noisy’s aether, both so the conversation didn’t escalate and because his feathers were already borderline painful from lack of grooming.

“It could be dangerous,” Noisy said, crossing his arms. “You’re not fully healed, and there’s—,” he trailed off, muttering a few phrases in Human like he was searching for a word.

Virgil struggled not to scrape his nails together in irritation. They were lucky he was going the negotiation route. If it had been his crewmates, he would already be well into biting people by now.

“I need a break,” he tried again, and then reluctantly added, “I’ll show you my pigment collection. But you can’t use them all!”

He gestured to the badly smeared and faded pigment that was still coating the downy small feathers around his eyes, a substance that his noisiest Human had asked about over and over.

Noisy brightened in delight, undeterred by Virgil’s tacked-on condition, before hesitating at the obvious bribe.

Man, they really were invested in keeping an eye on him, weren’t they? Noisy had been unbearably annoying about trying to get his hands on some pigment powder (he didn’t even have feathers?!) for ages, and now that he was being offered the opportunity, he was torn? It didn’t make any sense.

“Please,” Virgil was desperate enough to add.

“Okay, okay,” Noisy said, the tension in his aether snapping and settling into worried resignation. “I’ll go to sleep room. But only for a little while. And door open, so call and I’ll hear, okay?”

Somehow, it sounded more like a reassurance than a threat. Virgil shook himself, trying not to let stupid idealistic misinterpretations throw him off. He agreed hurriedly and waved Noisy out of the room with an impatience that clearly amused him.

Finally.

—

After a painstakingly slow climb out of the medcot, Virgil found he was actually extremely glad he hadn’t tried to remove his bulky sling just yet.

He’d started overheating from the strain before he even passed through the medbay doors. By the time he reached the cockpit, his ruff feathers were visibly vibrating from gular fluttering and his hand pads were well past damp.

He’d definitely need a dust bath after this.

To his surprise, the entrance was blocked off by a considerably large pile of materials. The array was a mishmash of everything, some items looking alarmingly expensive while others were barely more than scrap.

“What…,” he muttered, trying to puzzle out why this latest obstacle to his plan had been placed here, of all places.

A head popped up from behind the scrap. “Oh, thank Khiqea!”

Virgil made a short little alarm whistle, nearly toppling over as he scrambled back a few steps. “What are you doing on my ship?!”

The alien— they had curling mandibles and stout horned shoulders, Virgil recognized the species but couldn’t recall the name— stared at him with shiny black eyes for a long moment before speaking again, now with a slight buzz. “Your Humans kidnapped me here.”

They shuffled to the side slightly and lifted their arm, revealing that it was cuffed to… was that a medbay chair? And a chunk of medbay flooring?!

Did those idiots even know how much internal ship furnishing cost?

“Oh, I am gonna kill them,” he muttered to himself, and blinked when there was a high placating chitter from the stranger.

Right. Kidnapping victim. That was super bad, actually. “Why’d they kidnap you?”

“Did you not—,” the stranger cut themself off, before continuing in shorter, sharper words. “I was the only nonessential medic on the Hanssloane. It was part of the deal.”

The raiders. His injury. Some of it was coming back now. The Humans had abducted a whole person to make sure he didn’t die from his wounds? Why?

Instead of blurting any of that out, Virgil glanced down at where they were holding a clipboard and a simple welding tool. “You seem a little under equipped for a medic. Are you trying to bandage scrap metal, or what?”

“I— I know how to engineer,” they said hurriedly, their limbs drawing in defensively. “I have other uses! I can work for as long as you need, just— please.”

Well, if that wasn’t a familiar refrain, Virgil didn’t know what was.

“You’re a multitalented guy. Got it,” he said shortly. He wasn’t going to make any promises he couldn’t keep, but if they were so willing to talk… “What’s your name?”

“I go by Sveve,” they responded, running through a surprising number of politeness signals for a raider.

“Great,” Virgil replied, pretending not to notice the expectant pause. “Have you seen the other Humans around?”

If he wanted answers, he’d have to get them himself.

Sveve did that silent-surprise stare again, though this one was shorter. “Neither are onboard at the moment, Captain. They’re retrieving more machinery from the Hanssloane.”

Virgil resisted the urge to frown automatically at the formal address— the only time his crewmates called him that was when they were poking fun at him. Belatedly, the rest of the sentence registered.

“We’re still attached to the raider ship?” he asked, half horrified and half incredulous.

“The Humans negotiated the deal without you,” Sveve said, the words accompanied by a low click-click of realization. “They’re rogue agents. Grenghal’s balls, I’m so screwed.”

Virgil didn’t have time for their crisis. He was too busy having his own crisis.

“What was the deal? What happened while I was out?”

“You really don’t know. You weren’t there for the slaughter. And it’s not like you can trust me.” Sveve tapped their mandibles together consideringly, and then turned to check both sides of the hall before switching to a whispering buzz.

“There’s only one Human aboard now, so it might be the only chance you get. Check the footage of our boarding if you want to know the truth. Once you see it, you’ll understand the kind of monsters they really are, what they’ll do to me, to you. If we work together, we can escape.”

Virgil’s antennae pressed back as he shied away from the intent plea, but the paranoid part of him couldn’t help but perk up.

The records room was connected to Nav, more of a closet than anything. If the Humans really weren’t onboard, this might be the only chance he’d get to check without Square in the way.

Slowly, wordlessly, he edged around the pile of junk and continued down the hall towards Navigation.

He felt Sveve’s eyes follow him until he passed the curve, a familiar desperation in them that he hadn’t let himself dwell on.

He moved as quietly as possible, straining for any trace of Square or Heartfelt as he approached Nav. The Humans could be deathly silent when they wanted, but it was a habit they hadn’t kept up all the time.

The corridor was silent, and when he plucked up his courage and peered into the navigation room, it was empty, the lights low from a lack of detected motion.

Virgil took a deep breath and smoothed down his ruff as best he could, steeling himself. This was his last chance to turn back.

No. He needed to know.

He let his steps grow quicker and quicker as he crossed the room, eyes flicking from place to place warily as though Square could somehow wriggle out of an Ampen tunnel and descend upon him.

The records room door opened easily at his touch, and he let out a tense breath as he closed it behind himself. It was soundproofed, so he was as safe as he could be, for the moment.

The camera feed logs were all present and untampered with. It took only a few moments to locate the timestamps for the cycle the raiders had attacked, and he wound it back to shortly after his arm had snapped, feeling a little ill at the sight.

He ignored the urge to let it go, to ignore the gaps in his memory and the new hostage, to try and return to the status quo. Whatever he was missing, he would find out now.

He reached forward and started the footage.

[goodieghosty]

More of the half baked vamp au cuz I have so many facts and lore stuff. I say facts loosely here lol. You'd be surprised how vampire lore n such differs from source to source. And i will cherry pick it all because it's my au and iiiiiii get to control the... everything, yes

Logan is an oooold school vampire, he's got all of the inconvenient draw backs. Like absolutely having to count every grain of rice he comes across. Rice has been banned in his presence. Having to sleep in a coffin. He cannot stand the sun

For funny fun sake, every vampire can get any drawback. It's random. But they are all intolerant to garlic. Not that they care. You can pry garlic from Roman's cold hands.

But also if anyone visits someone's house with Patton they literally have to invite him in otherwise he'll just stand on the doorstep like the saddest puppy "where's Pat?" "Didn't he come in with you?" "......" "WE LEFT HIM OUTSIDE"

Janus, Logan, and Patton are the oldest vampires in their lil coven. Logan was locked in a crypt for most of his vampire days so he's missed a lot. V curious. Types like an old man, he is one but u kno. Likes to think he has good control over his thirst. He does not

Janus had turned Remus after having him as a thrall for a good amount of time. And then Remus' dumbass attacked his own brother because he forgot to feed and Janus had to turn Roman to save him. Virgil was also there. V angsty. No spoilers

Janus turned Virgil half a century ago, and then after their hideout was attacked by a larger coven they were separated. Virgil had been sick when Janus found and turned him, and when they were separated Virgil was still a fledgling. Didn't know the ropes. Resented Janus for turning him in the first place, and the resentment only grew when he was forced to teach himself the ropes. Janus thought he had died in the attack after he couldn't find him.

All things considered Virgil was lucky to survive so long without being caught or killed by more experienced vampires or hunters.

Janus just showed up one day ages ago, no one knows where he came from. Or who turned him. Hands down has the most control over his shape-shifting ability out of all of them

Logan and Patton were both turned at the same time, by the same vampire. It wasn't their choice and they've been near inseparable since, well, at least since Patton freed his old friend after finally finding him again

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

A Thin Line

Prompts: first anon sweetie this ask was very long and i want to be polite to people’s dashes BUT it is the main plot so it was treated well :)

might I humbly request some janus and remus, platonic or romantic, preferrably as angsty as possible :) (oh and also a touch of hurt/comfort because I may love angst but I Am Also Fragile) - anon

Hi, I was wondering if you’d be willing to write a story focused on brotherly dukexiety? It’s one of my favorite dynamics and I almost never see anything for it. No pressure if you don’t want to, I just love your writing and I’d love to see how you write these two! - anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: intrusive thoughts, dissociation, possibly unsympathetic patton but not by the end

Pairings: listen i’m still on a kick of being like i will write only gen things and make them emotional and important because fuck you after a ‘‘‘‘‘‘discussion’‘‘‘‘ with someone earlier this week SO gen

Word Count: 5883

Dark, darker, yet darker. 

It pools in the corners, crawls across the walls, something darker than darkness. A little witch boy, curled in the shadows, eyes single pinpricks that you can’t see unless you’re already too close. Come, little boy, come down, down, down into the depths where the light won’t reach and the creatures of the night run wild and free. 

Where there is light, there must be shadow. When a shadow touches the light, it is destroyed forever.

That was the story Janus told them when they were little. He and Virgil would cling to each other, Virgil because he claimed he wasn’t scared—he was—and needed to protect little Remus. Remus because he was scared—and he should be—and he was small enough to fit into Virgil’s lap. 

Janus would sweep them into his six arms, murmuring about how the darkness was needed, there couldn’t be light without dark, that they were safe in the shadows as long as they stuck together. Virgil would mutter about how he knew that, he just needed to make sure Remus understood that so he wouldn’t get scared. They’d never leave him alone. 

Remus was new. A baby Side, no more than a fledgling, still trying to piece together the broken shards after Creativity Split. He still reached for the phantom half of his brother, trying to claw back the other half of his heart. Tentacles would sprout from his back, excruciating because they were wrong, no matter how many times Janus would sprout all six of his arms to show him it’s not wrong, sweetie, it’s okay, see? You’re just like me. Remus would scream, haunted by thoughts that ran through his head that he’d never heard before, where’s his brother, why isn’t he coming back to fix it?

“I’m your brother too,” Virgil would say softly, stroking a sobbing Remus’s back, “and I’ll never leave you. I’m right here. I’ll take care of you.”

Remus, the little Dark Side, grew up in the shadows until they molded themselves around his arms, his legs, and grew into the ghoulish smile on his face. 

There is something comforting about the darkness. Something cathartic. Wandering deep, deep into the misty shadows, pushing past the last pinpricks of light until he can’t see anything, not even his own hands, and waiting until they race up his spine. To let them sink into him, take control, and that’s when the thoughts would come. 

The distant cries of despair, the dissonant shrieks of pain. The images that flashed too real and too bright in the darkness, the prickling sensation on the back of his neck that made him feel like he was being watched. 

“Alright Remus, that’s enough for now.”

And he would be back. Janus would be leaning into his peripheral, waving with a teasing smile as he pulled Remus up off the couch and led him to the kitchen for dinner. Virgil would be on his phone, glancing up in time to offer Remus a small smile as he plopped down next to him. 

“Hey, little octopus,” he’d say, ruffling Remus’s hair, “you have a good day?”

“I thought about bad things!”

Virgil would chuckle. “Well, that’s your job. You have fun?”

Remus would grin so hard his lips would ache and he would tell them all about it. Janus would smile and reach over, tweaking his ear. Virgil would laugh and tell him he’s doing his job. 

And Remus was happy. 

Then he found out about the Others. 

There can be no light without darkness, Janus had said. Somehow Remus never figured out that there was light. 

Patton, Logan, and Roman. 

Roman. His brother, his twin, the other half of Creativity. Remus threw himself at the border between the Light and the Dark when he glimpsed Roman’s red sash, uncaring how it burned his hands and made his bones ache because that was his brother over there, he wants his brother back, why won’t they let him?

Janus had gentled him away from the barrier, setting him down with a Kraken plushie and explaining that no, Remus, they couldn’t go over there. 

“But why,” Remus had whined, twisting the Kraken’s arms, “he’s my brother, Janny, I want—I just wanna see my brother.”

Something had twisted in Janus’s face. “We can’t go over there, Remus, we’re…we’re not wanted.”

Not wanted? Did that mean his brother didn’t want to see him?

“…yes.”

Virgil had appeared at the first scream. 

It took hours. Hours of Janus holding him in his lap, running his hands through his hair, down his back, holding him close. Hours of Virgil muttering soft words, letting Remus squeeze his hands until their knuckles turned white. Hours of Remus’s lungs doing their very best to exit his body as he cried and screamed because his brother didn’t want him. 

That was the first time Remus cried over a brother. 

When he was older, he learned a bit more. He learned that Roman didn’t do it on purpose. He didn’t Split away from Remus because he wanted to, he didn’t know it was going to happen any more than Remus did. He learned that Logan didn’t like Roman either; as Logic, he and Creativity were to be at odds anyway, even if they weren’t Split. 

He learned that Patton was the reason for a lot of it. 

Janus had hesitated when trying to explain this, eventually settling on what was too simple of an explanation to be the whole story but made too much sense to be a complete lie. 

Patton is Morality. Patton is responsible for what Thomas believes to be right and wrong. If something is Wrong, Patton will cast it out. 

Janus, Deceit, is Wrong. So Janus is pushed away into the darkness to hide things from Thomas. 

Virgil, Anxiety, is Wrong. Anxiety scares Thomas, which is Bad, so Virgil is pushed away. 

Remus, Bad Creativity, is Wrong. Roman is Good Creativity, and Thomas only needs to be Good. 

“But he can’t stop us from doing our jobs,” Janus had assured, “as you well know. He can’t stop us from reaching Thomas, he can’t prevent us from any of that. We just…can’t go into that part of the Mindscape.”

Virgil had huffed. “Not that we’d ever need to go over there. What’ve they got that we don’t? More sunlight? No, thank you.”

Janus had chuckled, reaching out to ruffle their hair. “That’s the spirit, boys.”

So Remus had shrugged and turned his back on the barrier. He had a brother over here and he had Janus. And they were safe in the darkness, what more could they need?

And Remus was happy. 

And then—and then Virgil started to leave. 

“Thomas is letting me get stronger,” he had announced at one dinner, a grin on his face, “I can feel the real world more than ever.”

Janus had raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Have you tried manifesting there yet?”

“Not yet. But soon. I think I’ll be able to do it.”

Remus had bounced up and down in his seat. “Does that mean we might get to talk to Thomas too? Like the Light Sides?”

Virgil had reached out and ruffled his hair. “That’s the plan, little octopus.”

“Well, that isn’t good news at all.”

“Oh, we know you practice your cape sweeping in the mirror.”

Janus had reached over and gently cuffed Virgil upside the head. “Enough of that. Save your energy for Thomas.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Cape.”

“Do you want dessert or not?”

“Ooh, ooh! I do!”

The first time Virgil had left, Remus and Janus had gathered in the living room, anxiously—heh—waiting for any sign that Virgil was in trouble, that something was going wrong, that they needed to step in. But Virgil had sunk out completely, the only sign of him the ambient pulsing of the Mindscape as Thomas reacted to what was going on. 

“He’s gonna be okay,” Remus had chanted over and over under his breath, “he’s gonna be okay, he’s gonna be okay, he’s gonna be okay—“

Janus had reached out and carefully stilled his hands, murmuring something about stimming being okay but he shouldn’t hurt himself while doing it. 

And when Virgil had reappeared, grinning, Remus had thrown himself into his arms and started peppering him with questions. 

“How did it go? Did you manifest? Did everyone see you? Did Thomas see you?”

“Slow down, sweetie,” Janus had murmured, getting off the couch and helping Virgil sweep him into his arms, “let him breathe.”

Virgil had ruffled Remus’s hair, still grinning. “It worked. It worked, Janus. It totally worked.”

Janus had paused, his own smile growing, before he ruffled Virgil’s hair too. “Awful, my dear, simply awful of you.”

Virgil’s grin had sharpened. “I was.”

Then he started to leave more often. Remus wanted to go with him, but they’d refused. 

You’re not strong enough, sweetie, Janus had said, Roman is still Creativity to them, I don’t want you getting hurt. 

The reason I’m able to do it is because Thomas is letting me get stronger, Virgil had said, maybe when you’re older. 

It wasn’t until Virgil didn’t come back that Remus realizes they were lying. 

He remembers screaming at the barrier for hours, beating his fists on it, thinking that they’d taken Virgil captive, let him go, he wants him back, how dare they? He remembers Janus finding him and catching his hands, pulling him away and onto the couch. He remembers pummeling his fists into Janus, screaming about how could he be so calm about this, they took Virgil, doesn’t Janus want him back?

“They didn’t take him, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, still holding Remus’s wrists, “they Accepted him.”

Remus freezes. “They fucking what?”

“Virgil got Accepted, sweetie.” Janus runs his hand through Remus’s hair. It doesn’t feel like Virgil. “That’s why he isn’t here.”

“So, what, they just—they decided he’s Good, now?”

Janus hesitates. “Not exactly.”

Remus growls, throwing himself backward and out of Janus’s grip. “I’m not them, Janus. I’m not Thomas. Don’t fucking lie to me.”

Janus just looks at him. “I’m not lying, sweetie. That’s not what happened.”

“So why isn’t he here?” 

“Because he—“

“If you tell me he got Accepted again, I’m going to rip your balls off and pan sear them.”

Janus sighs, adjusting his gloves. “Virgil was Accepted by Thomas. That means that Patton’s ability to push him out is being overridden by Thomas’s desire to see him.”

Remus doesn’t, in fact, rip his balls off and pan-sear them. “So what, now he’s…over there?”

“Yes.”

“Can we see him?”

“Patton still has control over us, Remus.”

“So what, if we get Accepted we can go over there?”

“Yes.”

Remus narrows his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Janus sighs, reaching out to ruffle his hair again. “I knew you were getting better.”

Remus leans away. “Tell me.”

Janus pauses. Then he lowers his hand and sighs. “Virgil didn’t know he wouldn’t be able to come back. He…Remus, if we don’t get Accepted, we might never be able to see him again unless it’s outside the Mindscape.”

“So we just have to get Accepted.”

“…yes.”

“Okay,” Remus murmurs, missing the look that flickers across Janus’s face, “okay. Get Accepted. Get Accepted.”

If he gets Accepted, he can see Virgil again. He can see Roman again. He can do it. He can do it. 

That night is the second time he cries over a brother. 

The darkness is quieter now. It’s just the two of them. Janus spends so much time plotting and thinking that Remus doesn’t have anyone to brainstorm with. He lets the brain hit him without an umbrella, walking slowly down the dark path until he’s soaked in them. Janus doesn’t even look up anymore when he comes in for dinner. 

Janus can manifest now. Thomas—Thomas let him. Granted, he showed up as Patton the first time, and then he had his identity reveal, and they—they just let him keep showing up. Patton couldn’t push him out. Did that mean Thomas wanted to see him? Did that mean Thomas was closer to Accepting him?

Was Janus talking to Virgil? Was he talking to Roman? Did that mean that Remus could come in soon too?

Janus chuckles when Remus bombards him with questions, catching his hands and sitting them on the couch. “Slow down, sweetie, I can’t hear all of them.”

Remus huffs, letting Janus squeeze his hands. “What’s going on, Janny? You don’t talk to me as much anymore.”

“Oh, I know, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy.” He rolls his eyes. “You know how difficult it can be to talk to someone who won’t listen, don’t you?”

“Mhm.” He glares at Janus. “Sure do.”

“…alright, I deserve that one.” 

“But it’s going okay?”

“Oh, yes. Roman in particular has been very helpful.”

Remus perks up. “Really? Roman?”

“Mm.”

Remus wriggles with glee. “And what about Virgil? Have you seen him too? Is he okay?”

Janus huffs. “As contrary as ever and enjoying every moment of it.”

“Yay!” Remus claps his hands. “Do you think I’ll be able to manifest soon too?”

“…yes, as a matter of fact.” Janus pats his shoulder. “I think you’ll have your chance before too long.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. But, Remus—“ Janus shifts forward, his expression serious as he takes Remus’s face in his hands— “manifesting isn’t as easy as just showing up, alright? Thomas doesn’t know you exist yet, he’s not going to react well.”

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if he reacted well.”

“Yes, that’s true, but just because you can manifest doesn’t mean you’ll get Accepted. It just means that you’re a concrete enough thing in Thomas’s head.”

That takes a bit of the wind out of Remus’s sails. “So…”

“So,” Janus says, aiming for gentle and hitting right in the soft part of Remus’s chest, “you could manifest and it could make it easier for Patton to push you away.”

Remus stops. His eyes widen. “You mean if I…manifest…I might never get Accepted?”

Janus nods slowly. 

“But that didn’t happen with Virgil! And that’s not happening with you!”

“We don’t know about me yet, sweetie.”

“But you—you said it was going well!”

“It is for now. But I would be irresponsible if I let you go up there without knowing that.”

Remus chews on his lip. “So what should I do?”

“Whether Patton likes it or not, we are parts of Thomas. We can’t go away. Thomas needs us.” Janus runs his fingers over the curve of Remus’s face. “Just be you, do your job. That’s what’ll help you.”

Okay. Okay. Just do his job. He can do his job. He runs back into the darkness and lets it sink into him. 

If he’s going to do his job, he’s going to do it right. 

The whispers come to him easily as soon as he opens the door. Blood in the bathtub, sticks of deodorant devoured in three bites, shaking hands, darkness, darkness, darkness. 

Remus grins. He can do this. 

Janus gives him the signal after a night of work, whispering that Thomas is still feeling the effects of what happened. Remus reaches out, feeling the Mindscape twist and turn around him until—

He can see it. The outside. He can see Thomas. He can see Patton, he can see Logan, he can see—

He can see Roman. 

He can see Virgil.

He pushes. 

“Have you ever thought about killing your brother?”

Thomas flinches. Remus grins, beginning to pull up from the aether behind the TV. Roman can’t see him. Oh, Roman is going to be so surprised—

Knock him out. 

The whispers make him pause. 

Knock him out, take his place, show them the rest of Creativity. 

Well…it’s not a bad idea. 

The screams as he appears make the smile grow wider, Thomas’s gaping eyes as he climbs out from behind the TV music to his ears. He looks around and for the first time, they see him. 

He looks over at Virgil, wanting to say something about how it’s so good to see him, he’s missed him, but—

But Virgil isn’t looking at him. He’s glaring at Logan. And Thomas. And Patton. He’s—what?

Maybe…maybe Virgil wasn’t expecting it. That’s right, Janus said they could only talk out here, in front of everybody, maybe—maybe Virgil just didn’t know he was coming. 

That’s okay. 

Remus grins, spinning his tales and watching as Thomas reacts beautifully. See, he says in occasional glances at Patton, see? I’m as much a part of Thomas too, don’t you see?

But then—then Logan starts talking. 

And he’s saying things like it’s okay, he’s harmless, he can’t do anything to you. You’re alright, this isn’t you, you’re going to be alright. 

And…it hurts. It hurts. It’s hurting. This isn’t supposed to hurt. Janus didn’t say anything about this hurting. He should ask Janus. He tries to summon Janus—

“Ah!” Thomas holds up a finger. “One of you is enough.”

Janus isn’t coming. Janus isn’t coming and Virgil isn’t helping him and Patton isn’t listening to him anymore and Logan is talking to Thomas and—and—

He can feel his power slipping away. It’s leaving him. He’s losing his ability to stay there. Thomas is pulling away from him. In a desperate attempt, he looks at Virgil, please, please, let me stay, I’ve missed you so much, let me—let me—

“You know what's funny?” Virgil looks at him. Why…why is Virgil looking at him like that? “You used to really unsettle me.”

…what? No, no, Virgil—Virgil liked him. Virgil was his—

“I thought that you were some... terrible illness.” 

Remus’s chest clenches. Virgil just looks at him. 

“Now I can see that you're just... a common cold. A mild inconvenience that's...gone before you know it.”

There’s a distant whining sound in his ears, Remus realizes after a moment. He isn’t in his body anymore, separated from them so much he may as well be back in the darkness, his body left here. Something from far away hurts. 

He doesn’t remember sinking out. He doesn’t remember getting back to Janus. He doesn’t remember collapsing weightlessly on the floor. 

He remembers hearing the afterimage of Roman’s voice. 

“It's a little like looking into a funhouse mirror... but instead of a giant head, or, like, long legs and a tiny torso... it shows you... everything you don't wanna be.”

He remembers the way Virgil looked at him. 

He remembers the whispers. 

They don’t want you. They will never want you. It’s your job to be unwanted. 

They’re going to leave. Virgil left and he’s happy about it. 

Janus will leave. He’s closer to being Accepted than you are. His power hasn’t been taken away from him. 

You will be alone. 

The darkness is your only friend. 

Janus is putting so much work into being Accepted. Janus is working so hard and he’s—the others seem to prefer him. Right? Isn’t that what this taught him? Janus never got stripped of his power, did he? And he keeps being able to leave. Remus can’t leave again. Is…is that right? Is that what’s going on?

He goes to ask Janus once or twice but Virgil’s words keep ringing in his ears. A mild inconvenience that’s gone before you know it. 

Is that all he is?

Is that why Janus is working so hard to leave?

He misses Virgil. He misses the others. He wants to go back to them. 

He doesn’t care about you. 

He wants to say that’s not true. He wants to say that Janus came and found him after that, that he pulled him into his lap and shushed his cries, that he wiped away his tears and called him sweetie. He wants to say that Janus was there for him when he was upset, that he made sure he ate and got to sleep snuggled up with his favorite Kraken plushie. 

But the whispers point out that Janus never denied anything. He never told Remus that Virgil was wrong. He never told Remus that it would be alright, that this wouldn’t happen every time, that this wasn’t what he was expecting. 

What if this was the plan all along?

Slowly, slowly, he watches. 

Janus doesn’t bring up the fact that Remus hasn’t gotten another chance to manifest. He doesn’t comfort him over the fact that no one seems to miss him. He doesn’t tell him when he’s leaving anymore, he just goes. 

Remus sits in the darkness, still and quiet, and watches as Janus draws further and further away from him. 

Part of him screams out to follow, to tug on Janus’s cape like he did when he was younger and ask him why, why are you doing this, why are you leaving me?

Part of him thinks that Janus would stop, that he would gather Remus in his arms and kiss his forehead and tell him no, sweetie, I’m not leaving, I’m just trying to figure something out so we can leave together. 

Part of him, however, thinks that if Janus were to do that, Remus wouldn’t need to ask for it. 

And so when the day comes and Janus doesn’t come back in time for dinner, Remus leaves the table laid out with their food and lets the whispers tug him down, down, down. 

If you scream in a dark forest and no one is around to hear it, do you make a sound?

That night is the third time Remus cries over a brother and the first time he cries over a father. 

Remus is alone in the darkness now. The darkness is quiet. It’s too quiet. It seeps into every little nook and cranny and drowns it in shadow. The shadows are long, infinitely long, stretching further and further each time Remus looks at them. He huddles around his Kraken plushie underneath the covers, a single candle in the lonely darkness. No other point of reference exists anymore, not since the barrier felt so out of reach and no one else set foot in the darkness of the Mindscape. 

But he prefers the quiet to the whispers. 

Alone, alone, alone. 

Unwanted, unloved, unappreciated. 

Did you think anyone would choose to stay with you, in the dark, when they could be together, in the light?

There is light and there is darkness, but there is no light for you. 

It’s cold. It’s so cold. 

In the darkness, with his eyes shut tightly, he pretends. Pretends they didn’t leave him, pretends that he’s not alone. Pretends that he can hear their voices just outside, that they’re worried about him. 

Pretends that he can feel a hand carding through his hair, Virgil’s hand, that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. 

C’mon, little octopus, he imagines Virgil saying, c’mon out. Let me see you. I missed your face, I wanna see it. 

Be gentle, he imagines Janus saying, he’s been like that for a while. He’s going to be sore, he won’t be able to move much. 

I know, he imagines Virgil saying sharply, I’m not the one who forgot to tell him what the plan was. 

He imagines Janus kneeling down, hands working their way under his arms to his waist, trying to coax him upwards into a hug, come here, sweetie, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you, I’m here now, we’re all here now, let us take care of you. 

What happened to being ‘gentle?’

And because this isn’t real, he can imagine the others are here too. He can imagine Logan, who took his power away and made Thomas ignore him, is crouching down too. He’s been like that for a while, I don’t think there’s going to be a way to move him that won’t hurt. 

So what do we do, he imagines Virgil saying, I’m not leaving him like this. 

Remus, he imagines Logan saying in the same soft voice he used for Thomas, Remus, can you hear us? Your muscles are going to be stiff and sore from being all curled up, you could get hurt if you stay like that. 

He likes the soft voice. The soft voice is nice. He doesn’t hear that anymore. 

It’s not working, he imagines Janus saying, what do we do? 

And because this isn’t real, he can imagine Patton is here too, even though Patton hates him. He can imagine Patton slowly crouching down, resting a hand on his shoulder. 

Sweetheart, he imagines, Patton’s voice full of affection and care the way it will never be, wiggle your fingers. 

What?

Wiggle your fingers, sweetheart, just a little. Try and see if moving a bit will help you move more. 

Remus takes a deep breath and tries to wiggle his fingers. It hurts, it hurts so bad, but they move. 

They moved! They moved! 

Good, sweetheart, he imagines Patton saying, very good. How about your hands, can you squeeze your toy?

Remus squeezes the toy, weak to the soft voice. 

Oh, very good, sweetheart, good job. He imagines Patton’s hand moving to his back. It’s not warm because it’s not real but he imagines the pressure from it. Now, do you think you could roll onto your back?

That’s quite a leap, he imagines Logan saying, concerned, do you think that’s a good idea?

All he’ll need to do is shift his weight. He imagines Patton’s hand being firm. Just roll a little. 

I’m right here, he imagines Virgil saying, I’ve got you, little octopus. 

Remus closes his eyes even tighter and rolls, every muscle in his body crying out as he slowly comes to rest on his back. 

Good, sweetheart. 

Good job, sweetie. 

I’ve got you, little octopus, you won’t fall. 

Very good, Remus, he imagines Logan saying, that’s excellent. Now, try and relax your neck. It’ll hurt if you keep your head off the ground like that. 

But that means they’ll see his face. He doesn’t want them to see his face. They might remember that they don’t like him. 

But this isn’t real. So it won’t matter, they’ll still be kind to him.  

But this isn’t real. And he’ll have to realize that. 

He doesn’t want to. 

He imagines them coaxing him to do it, Logan saying he doesn’t want Remus to hurt himself, Patton saying it’s alright, Virgil saying he’s right here, Janus saying that they won’t leave. 

Wait, Roman—!

Something slams into him. 

Remus gasps, the impact jostling him hard enough to break through the rigid grip he has on his muscles. It jerks him across the carpet, rug burn forming on his back as something heavy crashes down on top of him. In an instant, his lungs are burning and he’s desperate for air, the sting of it euphoric as his body comes back to life. 

And staring at him, his own eyes filled with unshed tears, is Roman. 

Roman stares down at him, his hands braced on either side of Remus’s head. He’s panting too, breaths hitting Remus’s face as his weight bares down, warm and solid and real. 

Roman is real. 

Roman is here. 

“Re,” comes the horrible croaky voice as Roman stares at him, “Re, you’re—“

Remus swallows through a bone-dry throat. “…Ro?”

A wounded noise escapes Roman as he drops, wrapping his arms so tightly around Remus and dragging him upwards into his lap. He throws Remus’s legs over his and buries his nose in his neck, panting breaths shuddering out as Remus stares at the—the—

Virgil looks at him with a crooked smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Hey, little octopus.”

“V-Virgil?”

“Yeah, baby, it’s me.” Virgil reaches out and scruffs his knuckles along the sides of Remus’s face. “I missed you.”

“Don’t drop your Kraken,” comes Janus’s gentle voice and Remus looks over to see his gloveless hands guiding it back into Remus’s grip. 

“Janny?”

“It’s me, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, coming up to cup his face in his hands, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you all alone.”

Remus swallows. “You left me. You both left me.”

Anger surges up in him, even as Roman clutches him tighter. 

“You lied to me! You said—you said you wouldn’t leave! You left me alone! You—you promised!”

Janus doesn’t say anything. He only wipes away Remus’s furious tears as Virgil begins to run his fingers through his hair. 

Remus wants to pull away. Wants to pull away from all of them. They lied, they left, they promised and they broke it. He wants them to see how much it hurt, wants them to have to grovel and plead to be forgiven, he wants—he wants—

He wants Janus’s soft murmurs. He wants Virgil’s gentle touches. He wants Roman to keep holding onto him and never let go. 

Remus collapses into a heap of humiliated tears as Roman holds him tight. 

After a long, long time, Remus looks up, watching as Janus holds a handkerchief in front of him and encourages him to blow. He does, a desolate honk sounding in the room. 

“When Janus came through,” Logan begins, startling Remus, “we expected you to come with him.”

Remus stares up in shock. “You?”

“Yes, little one,” Logan says in that soft soft soft voice as he crouches down, “I didn’t mean to scare you so badly.”

“You didn’t scare me,” he says, too quickly, too petulantly. Logan just gives him a knowing look as Janus squeezes his hand. “…maybe.”

“In looking after Thomas, I didn’t consider that you might need looking after too.” Logan reaches out and carefully fixes Remus’s collar. “And I didn’t know what it was like for you.”

“Janus explained everything.” 

Remus looks up to see Patton watching him. He swallows and burrows a little more into Roman. 

“I…it’s my fault you were pushed away,” Patton continues, slowly lowering himself too, “I thought it was right. That it would be better for Thomas.”

Remus watches him warily over Roman’s shoulder. 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” Patton says, slipping into that gentle voice again, “but can we…try and start again? Janus and Virgil wouldn’t stop talking about how much they missed you, and Roman—“

“I told him I’d break the barrier and get you myself if he didn’t let us,” Roman whispers into Remus’s hair, “because you’re my brother and I fucking missed you.”

“R-Ro…”

“Yeah, Re, it’s me. I’m right here.”

“Roro…”

“Come stay with us,” Patton murmurs, “please, Remus? It’ll be alright, I promise.”

“Me too, sweetie,” Janus whispers, pressing a kiss to Remus’s forehead.

Virgil ruffles his hair again. “Come home with us, little octopus.”

Remus finds Logan’s gaze. “But what about the light and darkness? Don’t—doesn’t there need to be both?”

“Yes, little one,” Logan says gently, “but we don’t need to be separated, we can be together.”

“We can?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” Patton finishes, “we can.”

“I get both brothers?”

Roman grumbles as Virgil shoulders his way into the hug. “Yup. You get both brothers.”

“You had him to yourself for a long time,” Roman grouses, “lemme have my turn.”

“In your dreams, Princey.”

“I’m hopes and dreams, so take that!”

“Kiddos,” Patton says as Janus says, “boys.”

Logan chuckles as the two of them hunker down around Remus. He adjusts his glasses and glances at the couch. “I suppose we might need to set more places at the table, hmm?”

“Great,” Virgil mumbles, “I’m starving.”

“Me too.” Roman nudges Remus. “You hungry?”

“Mhm.”

“Come on, then,” Janus says, “let’s have dinner. There’s a lot to talk about.”

Remus’s lips curl up into a small smile. He has his brothers back. He has his father back. Logan is going to help look after him. Patton wants to try again. 

They’re going to have dinner. They’re going to eat dinner and no one is going to leave and maybe, maybe, he’s been Accepted for real this time. 

And Remus was happy.

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[i-will-physically-fight-you]

To Hell With Semantics

Title: To Hell With Semantics

Summary: When Virgil had heard Logan’s call on the winds, faint and yet recognizable, he’d left at once to find his hatchmate. He’d been certain that Logan was injured and in need of aid. What he wasn’t expecting was to find Logan perfectly healthy and caring for the young of a legendary, dangerous adversary to all dragonkin. // Sequel Fic to This

Word-Count: 1.6k

Pairings: Brotherly Analogical, Parental Logicality, Platonic Moxiety

Warnings: Arguments, Misunderstandings, Language Barrier, Fantasy Racism, Dragons, Slight Angst but Mostly Fluff

I’ve had this half-finished in my docs for an over year now--managed to sit down and finish it within a few hours today. Enjoy!

-

Sometimes Virgil seriously questioned if Logan hatched from the same clutch as him. That perhaps somehow his egg wobbled its way into the same nest as Virgil’s and none of the adults had caught the mistake. Because seriously, he could not be tangentially connected to such a birdbrain as him. 

Oh sure, when it came to knowledge, Logan was smart. He knew the names of all the stars and how to use their lights to navigate to specific destinations. As hatchlings, he took to flying much faster than Virgil. Granted, Virgil used to have a fear of heights. He still had a fear of many things but through that fear, came common sense. Something Logan sorely lacked even at the best of times.

Virgil didn’t have enough talons to count all the times he had to keep Logan from dying from his own damn curiosity when they were growing up. It was this curiosity that drove him out of the safety of the clan on an idiotic wild quest. One that Virgil feared would be the blade that extinguished Logan’s inner fire for good.

Given all this, Virgil shouldn’t be surprised at what he was currently looking at. Really, he shouldn’t. 

“Logan,” Virgil hissed, unable to tear his gaze away, “What the fuck is that?”

“A hatchling?” Logan offered, as the offending creature-that-was-definitely-not-a-hatchling played with his tail in a way that, admittedly, a hatchling would do with a guardian’s. Virgil refused to be fooled, however.

“A HUMAN hatchling,” Virgil seethed, “Might I repeat, WHAT THE FUCK?!”

His shout drew the attention of the human away from Logan’s tail. Its creepy beady eyes stared at him. Then it screeched, toddlering towards him. Virgil’s instincts kicked in; he mantled his wings high as he hissed loudly. The human stopped, expression morphing on its face. Liquid dripped from its eyes as if something had irritated it. 

Logan met his hiss with a low warning growl. He firmly placed himself between Virgil and the human hatchling. The latter let out a sharp cry, ducking out of sight behind Logan.

“Virgil!” Logan scolded, “He’s just a hatchling!”

“A human hatchling! He was going to attack me!” 

Logan snorted with a puff of smoke, “He would not leave even a scratch. He was just curious, like all hatchlings are.”

‘And like some grown dragons as well.’ Virgil thought sharply. Curiosity killed the fledgling after all. It was best to trust on what was known than to seek out things better left alone. Like the human currently cowering behind Logan like a month-old hatchling. Where on earth had Logan managed to find a human? And a human hatchling at that? Virgil wasn’t sure if he wanted to even know.

“Why did you call upon me?” Virgil asked at last, forcing his wings to relax at his sides. Logan knew he rarely left the clan boundaries if he could help it. He’d presumed Logan was injured when he heard his call in the winds, faint yet still recognizable. Not…this.

“I wanted you to meet him,” Logan said, “I thought you’d…understand.”

“Understand? You’re not saying…”

“I am,” Logan’s neck frills flared outwards, “Dragonkin or not, he is mine. His guardian is no more and I am certain in my resolve to care for him in their stead.”

“By Ignis, of course you would,” Virgil muttered, shaking his head. He initially thought the human was a coveted possession of Logan’s–just as much as his books or any other human artifact. He hadn’t expected Logan to reveal he laid guardianship upon it.

Not every dragon was destined to be a guardian of hatchlings. It was common in clans for birth parents to be completely uninvolved in a hatchling’s upbringing, even if they were known. 

Virgil had always known since a fledgling that he’d be a guardian. He never sought the thrill of the hunt or the passion in fighting off enemy clans. Nor was he like Logan, who was a wanderlost, a dragon who searched for something beyond their clan of origin. He found contentment in guarding and looking after hatchlings, as stressful as it could be at times.

Of course Logan would insist on being the guardian of a human. But it didn’t mean Virgil understood it–dragons took care of dragon hatchlings. Not the hatchlings of a dangerous foe thought to be long extinct. 

“Ok,” Virgil breathed, “As your hatchmate, please know this is a terrible idea and if anyone else finds out about this, you risk facing certain death and your name being forever stripped from memory.”

“And?” Logan asked, dipping his head in that haughty know-it-all manner of his.

“And also as your hatchmate I will not tell anyone of this because I still somehow prefer you to still be breathing despite your numerous inclinations otherwise,” Virgil said.

 “And you will not harm him?”

Virgil curled his tail around him. Ignis be with him, this was how he was going to die–by allowing himself to go along with Logan’s moronic vocation.

“No, I won’t,” Virgil promised.

Logan let out a pleased croon, “Thank you, Virgil.”

‘Yes, oh thank you Virgil for betraying all dragonkin by allowing me to continue raising the hatchling of our most dangerous foe.’ Virgil thought to himself.

It was then when he felt the glare of little beady eyes upon him. The human hatchling peeked from behind Logan’s tail, apparently regaining its appetite for curiosity. Oh Ignis, there were two of them now.

“Would you like to meet him properly now?” Logan asked, a guarded yearning in his voice.

“For your sake, I will.” Virgil said. Perhaps if the human hatchling tried attacking him, it would prove to Logan how dangerous of an idea this was.

Logan turned to the human hatchling, letting out soft croons. The human hatchling babbled, probably just as unintelligible to Logan as it was to Virgil. It drew itself closer, striding in its weird two-legged gait.

Virgil lowered himself close to the ground, making himself as small as he could. He had no idea if human hatchlings would find that comforting or not. The human hatchling stopped just a tail’s length away, hesitating. Logan loomed behind him, just as brooding as any guardian should be towards their hatchling. He knew for certain Logan wouldn’t hesitate to rip his throat out if he harmed the human in any manner, hatchmate or not.

Virgil’s inner flame roared in his chest. Still, he took a deep breath and called out to the human in a low, gentle warble that always seemed to calm hatchlings under his own care. Not so, for the human hatchling. The human hatchling made a noise at this, flashing its teeth in a sign of aggression. It dashed towards him, surely intent on hurting Virgil with its sharp teeth and claws.

He resisted the urge to mantle his wings and snap at it. This was it–this would be the moment Logan would realize his folly. Death by human hatchling hadn’t been the way Virgil imagined his inner flame would extinguish, but it might as well be this way.

Virgil closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Any moment now, the tearing and slashing of his innards would commerce. Yet as the hatchling made contact with a piercing cry, it didn’t sink its claws into his scales. He opened his eyes to see it had wrapped its upper forelegs around his snout.

He reared his head up a bit in surprise, to which the human hatchling squealed at. He quickly lowered his head to the ground. The human hatchling cried out, patting his snout a bit. Experimentally, he raised his head again, the human hatchling squealed again at this. He lowered back down again. He did this several times, the human hatchling squealing each time. 

Oh…the squeal was a happy sound. The human hatchling saw this as a game. It wasn’t far off from one hatchlings enjoyed. The way it held close to his snout was a bit uncomfortable, however.

Without much thought, he brought his tail closer, swaying it in the hopes of attracting the human hatchling’s attention to it. The human hatchling made a noise, released his snout and lunged for the tail. As soon as it wrapped itself on his tail, he lifted it upwards. The human hatchling squealed again, delighted at being airborne for the briefest of seconds.

Which made no sense. Humans didn’t have wings–the idea of flight for a land-bound species should be terrifying to them. There were stories about how humans feared dragons for this reason. Yet the human seemed as enthused as any dragon hatchling at it.

Virgil drew his face close to the hatchling again, examining it closely. The human let out a poor imitation of a croon, its upper limbs stretching towards Virgil’s snout. Odd behavior for a hatchling, but Virgil realized it was its way of seeking affection. Which was strange–most hatchlings didn’t seek affection from strange adults, at least not this quick. Virgil cautiously lowered his head. The human made a–happy?--noise at this.

As it latched again around his snout, Virgil found himself crooning.

Nearby, he heard Logan’s chuffed rumble. Virgil rolled his eyes, half-heartedly lashing his tail in annoyance. So the human hatchling shared similarities to dragon hatchlings–it didn’t mean Virgil wasn’t right in being wary of it. He was definitely not charmed by its trusting, affectionate behavior. Not one bit.

“Well?” Logan asked.

“I can see why you’re attached to it–to him,” Virgil said, careful not to dislodge the hatchling, “He’s just as reckless and foolish as you are.”

“Well, considering my inner flame hasn’t extinguished from what you consider ‘reckless’ and ‘foolish’, I find those to be admirable traits.”

“You’re a moron.” Virgil huffed, his warm breath fluttering the human’s strange fur on his head. The human just squealed at this, apparently finding it amusing.

Perhaps when the hatchling grew up and became the ferocious, menacing humans of legends, he’d at least spare Virgil along with Logan in the process.

[princeanxious]

Something I'm writing but idk if ill finish:

Virgil gets turned into a vampire and doesnt realize it till Logan, an Elder Vampire, approaches him out of worry bc "who just leaves a defenseless newly turned all alone out in the sun of all places???" And finds out Virgils been a vampire for all of three months, whos suddenly on his own and pretty much starving himself because he hasnt been shown how to even eat correctly let alone what to eat??

And while Logan wants to pummel the idiot who turned this poor 18 y/o without a care in the world and left him to starve, Logan has bigger issues to attend to.

So, Elder Vampire Logan decides, ultimately, to take this newly turned in as one of his own. Which is WILD to all the other vampires who know him/know aout him bc Elder Vampire Logan is a serious no nonsense guy whos never been interested in looking after other vampires or starting his own clan before while focused and obsessed with the pursuit of new knowledge, so many other vampires p much have to wonder; "what the fuck did this kid have going for him to have a immortal, whos been around longer than most people on the planet, decide to just up and adopt him as one of his own??" And boi do some of Logans closer, bolder vampire friends visit and ask him abt it while wanting to meet Virgil.

Virgil is confused as fuck and still just trying to focus at suddenly having a new parent that actually cares about him and learning all the things on what being a vampire entails, Logan is doing his best to coach, teach, and not coddle his new 'son' but honestly who can blame him for holding the poor boy for hours after his first meal because Virgil had been so conflicted about finally feeling full despite the fact that he'd drank blood of all things to get to that point that he'd sat and cried.

Logan had picked up a sensitive fledgling, for sure, but if you were to ask him, he wouldnt have wanted it any other way.

[stillebesat]

First Contact

December Drabbles Day 15 Sanders Sides: Roman, Logan, Virgil  Blurb: Things would be so much easier if only their human, Virgil, would talk to them.  Inspiration: While I already answered @letthefandomsbegin’s two sentence prompt of: Logan looked at Roman, eyes dark. "I need you to really think about what you're saying, because you're going to hurt Virgil even more if you do not." This other potential fic idea wouldn’t leave my head. Soo I wrote it out. ^^;;  Fic Type: g/t fic, Alien!AU, Alien!Roman, Alien!Logan, Fae!Virgil Overall Fic Warnings: Implied past history of mistreatment. Extra Limbs, Biting. Taglist in Reblog.

Logan looked at Roman, eyes dark. "I need you to really think about what you're saying, because you're going to hurt Virgil even more if you do not."  

Roman bit back a retort, glancing down to where their little human crouched on the table, watching them with eyes that held a cautious intelligence that only became more apparent the longer Virgil was in their care. 

It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought this whole plan through, but the protectiveness of his mate over the boy was something unexpected.

Of course, how could Logan have not grown fond of their little foundling after nursing the poor human back to health after they had rescued him from his dismal living conditions? 

They had been through every setback, every scare with the small male in working to keep him alive. Even pulling all nighters researching the best methods to ensure that their human could return to full health and safely achieve his full metamorphosis from scrawny, boney, four limbed Human into his final form of a full grown Fae. 

Not that Virgil was full grown yet. Roman was still hoping that he would end up with a tail, but he had successfully formed his third pair of limbs, a beautiful pair of black and purple wings as soft as the hide of a baby Seleen, during their last cycle of Garvit’s Ring. 

Wings that their human needed to use in order for them to gain enough strength so that he could eventually fly.

Roman ran his fingers over his horns, sitting back in his chair with a sigh as he turned to his mate. “I’m just saying, a mindlink would make this easier.” 

Far easier than the pantomiming they’d been doing up until this point. He could sense how wary Virgil was of them. Feel the panic swirl of the boy's thoughts whenever Roman or Logan had to physically move one of his limbs to get him to understand what they wanted from him. 

“Or it could send him spiraling further than he already has.” Logan retorted, indigo waves flashing across his dark skin as his ears twitched, his attention too on Virgil. “You saw how he reacted to his wings! He doesn’t understand what is happening to him and if we introduce too much--”

“But talking isn’t the same as learning how to use a new set of limbs, Lo. He’s exercising his brain not his muscles!” He spun to his mate, tail twisting to wrap around Logan’s. “If we could just communicate our intentions clearly to him we could--”

“I know.” Lo exhaled, resting a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “We could show him we mean no harm, that we merely mean to aid him as he grows. But, Ro--” He grimaced, showing a brief flash of his fangs. “He’s quite timid compared to the reports of other Humans.” 

“Timid?” Roman snorted, touching a small lightning shaped scar on his wrist. Virgil had managed to draw blood from them more than once in the early days of their guardianship over him. He had been quite feral until he realized that he was safe--well safer here with them.

“You know what I mean.” Logan said, carefully placing a book down on the table, the pages flipped open to a hologram of a Waie fledgling flapping her wings. “He could have another relapse. I can’t--” 

He knew. He didn’t want another relapse either. The screams the human had let out when he first saw his new wings still haunted them both. 

At the time Logan had had to physically restrain Virgil to keep him from destroying his new limbs with his own hands and had received quite the series of bites to his fingers in the process.

But those actions, that lack of communication between them had cost them dearly. 

Virgil had reverted to being just as feral as when they’d first rescued him after that. Refusing to trust them with anything. They’d had to start back at square one and it was frustrating. So frustrating to see all their progress lost in the matter of minutes. 

“He didn’t relapse five days ago though.” Roman said, tail flicking to wrap around Logan’s.

Five days ago when their human’s eyes had finally shifted from their baby brown coloration into the more adult shade of a shimmering galaxical violet.

Five days ago, when Roman had successfully formed a telepathic link with their human and clearly communicated to Virgil and had him understand that Roman was only trying to help him and not hurt him further.

Understand and be…leery of it. Okay. Frightened by it. Roman could still feel the slight headache behind his eyes from how forcefully Virgil had slammed the ‘figurative door,’ as Logan would say, on their mindlink. 

But he hadn’t relapsed. No, if anything, Virgil was looking at them more frequently now, brilliant eyes wary, but no longer scared. 

Though….He glanced down to see their human had moved to his feet, wings trembling where they were folded tightly against his back as he glanced to the holographic image of flight before deliberately turning his back on it. 

Roman pressed his lips together, running his fingers over his horns. Honestly, they couldn’t make it any clearer than that that they wanted him to learn how to fly. Was he purposely not understanding? Purposely refusing? A mind link would do wonders in clarifying the human’s thought process.

Cautiously he sent out a tendril of reassurance to him and was rewarded as the human jerked, wings half spreading before he snapped them shut. 

Huh. Virgil was getting better control of that at least. His wings remained folded most of the time now instead of hanging limply from his back dragging across the floor like an oddly shaped cape whenever the human tried to walk anywhere.

Of course, from the swirling tumult of his thoughts, Roman could gather that Virgil was trying to not think about his new limbs. An ‘if I can’t see it then it’s not there’ philosophy that was...well silly. He doubted the human could just forget the new weights on his back, not when they were a part of him now.

No, it would be better if Virgil would just accept this change and move his wings more. Spread them out at least if he didn’t want to flap them yet. Stretch. He could only imagine how cramped the wings had to feel being constantly folded like that.

Roman raised an eyebrow, smirking as the human turned, purple eyes taking on a soft glow as he glared up at him. “He seems fine to me.” 

Couldn’t Logan see that the shifting in Virgil’s eye color and therefore, the maturing of his brain to accept a telepathic link could only be a good thing for them?

It meant he and Roman could now communicate their intentions directly to the human--if he would let him--rather than having to rely on pantomime and sifting through Virgil’s tumultuous color and pattern filled mind to interpret whether or not their intentions were understood.

Granted, he knew humans didn’t normally use their minds to talk, but if theorists were right, whether he wanted to or not, it would only be a matter of time before Virgil’s brain matured enough to automatically instigate telepathic links with those around him.

His mate huffed as he too watched their human, before sending out his own tentative wave of thought to the human to see his reaction. “Well yes, but we haven’t yet seen the full ramifications of that yet.” 

Roman fought back the urge to roll his eyes. “Because you’re not letting us do more than brush the edges of his mind!” 

He could get not wanting to overload their human with even more changes. Agreed with it actually. It was better to not force Virgil to run before he was ready to walk when it came to telepathic links...but the anticipation of what they could have was killing him.

Logan exhaled, scooting his chair closer to Roman’s so he could lean against him. “Patience, Ro. While I agree a mind link would be easier, we have to take into consideration how Virgil will react. How he’ll feel to have such a method of communication presented to him. We can’t just force him before he’s ready.” 

He knew. He didn’t have to like it though. 

But surely, Virgil had to realize that those brief seconds of clear communication was a good thing. 

If their human would only--but no, he knew their human wasn’t fond of change, his near hysterical reaction when he’d seen his newly formed wings for the first time proved that. But it didn’t stop him from hoping that Virgil would accept his new telepathic ability far quicker than he was accepting his wings. If only--

He sent out another light tap to the human’s mind. Like a knock on the door. Asking to be let in. 

“Just think of the possibilities, my love. How he could answer all our questions. How we wouldn’t have to guess at what he needs. He could just tell us.” Roman whispered, a small smirk flicking on his lips as he felt his mate’s own careful knock on the human’s mind.  “We can’t know how he’ll react to a mindlink if we don’t give him a little stronger push--” 

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Roman cut off, breath catching in his throat as he felt a responding knock brush against his thoughts. Could it be?

Logan twitched, sitting up, his tail flicking into a question mark as another swirl of blue danced across his skin, his dark eyes lighting up. “Ro?” 

He held up a hand to silence his mate, crouching down in front of the table to make eye contact with the human. 

Virgil didn’t flinch away this time, small hands clenching into fists as his purple eyes took on a brighter glow at the same moment Roman felt another tap tap tap at the edges of his mind. 

Logan inhaled sharply, leaning forward. “He’s!” 

“SHH!!” He hissed, well aware of how both their heart rates had skyrocketed. Their human was reaching out! He was attempting to communicate! He! 

Roman drew in a shaky breath as he tilted his head, carefully sending out a tendril of thought towards the presence he could sense hovering just outside his mind and waited. 

Waited for something to happen. 

This could be their only chance at having their human reach out. Their only chance to finally establish-- 

Almost like the roll of thunder in the sky, another’s presence warily entered his mind forming a tentative connection. Then like the sound of waves breaking against the distance shore. He heard him.

~...Hello?~ 

Virgil.