#who can encourage and comfort and cheer Roman up. unlike Logan however

[schmweed]

[anxiouslyfred]

To Scare or Be Eliminated

you know last week I brainstormed all the prompts I had left and this would have been entirely different then, but the day after I got this idea because of how the prompt ‘The Big SPOOK’ sounded when I said it out loud.

Here is the time Roman wanted to judge a TV style talent show and everyone else happily joined in over Halloween

@spookylissawho @sanderssidesspook

Thomas had always enjoyed watching talent competitions, whether it be baking or performing or something else. The tension and thrill of seeing people go up in front of experts in their fields had always fascinated Roman and so Thomas, while Patton loved just seeing how well the contestants did, always cheering them on and Logan would analyse the techniques used by each person. In fact the only one of Thomas’s sides who treated it as the mindless entertainment people referred to it as was Virgil, claiming the time as a chance to relax.

That couldn’t work when Roman got inspired by it all in the approach to Halloween. He’d been itching to do something similar even since they did Thomas’s learning to cook video and now thought he had the perfect plan.

“A talent show for the villains of my realm!” He called out, appearing in the living room and making everyone jump slightly at his loud announcement.

“Geez Princey, what the hell are you so excited about?” Virgil snarked, tugging on the strings from his hoodie.

There were equally confused looks coming from Patton and Logan so he grinned before explaining more. “I want to be a judge in a talent show, not like we did for the video where Thomas competed but actually judging one, so I thought, let’s put one on for the monsters and villains which plague my realm. You’ll join me as judges right?”

“You want the villains of your realm to perform songs, dances and animal tricks for us to judge them on?” Logan queried, frowning a little as he thought about the enemies Roman had imagined in the past. “Just what talents do dragon witches and manticore-chimeras have for something like that?”

“He meant in scaring us, I think, L, though perhaps their singing is bad enough to be included.” Virgil rolled his eyes, “But that does sound fun, I guess. Do we get to chose our own ways of judging, because I have some pretty high standards for scaring people.”

“That sounds like so much fun! When should we do it?” Patton trilled, grinning at his family.

Roman nodded, raising his arms with a guffaw. “Worry not, Padre. I’ll arrange everything to perfection for the night of Halloween, what could be more festive that that?”

“That should be adequate time for me to make up a scoring system, then.” Logan nodded, “Would any of you like to use one as well, or do you intend to form your own?”

xxXXxx

When the night arrived none of the others were sure what would happen as they entered into the imagination and realm Roman kept formed for fantastical adventures.

“Let’s go and find him, Kiddos. Roman did say we’d spot it straight away, and that there’d be no death dealers around.” Patton insisted, carrying on as he walked forwards, hands catching Virgil and Logan’s.

Logan just looked around, subtly guiding them towards the “Are you two positive that you don’t want to use my categorical scoring system? It takes account of all the things which factor into fear and scariness.”

“I think I know scariness, Logan. It was my entire aesthetic for ages, after all.” Virgil smirked, only to blink at having arms wrapped around him immediately after.

“No, you’ve always been my kiddo.” Patton insisted, but gasped before he could say more at the sight of a stage draped in black, dark blues, purples and greens, each with a velveteen sheen to them. “That must be where Roman’s decided the talent show to be.”

The trio was silent as they approached it, taking in all the drapes and hanging bats around, snickering a little at the lights shaped like jackolanterns. Roman wasn’t to be spotted until they were in the audience area arranged, where he could be spotted hanging a few extra lights made of pumpkins to light their podium.

“Princey, please tell me you haven’t just carved our faces into those, because that would just be tacky.” The comment had him looking down, holding his chest in one handed affront.

“You wound me, Stormcloud. I merely used our logos to show our approval.” Roman declared, letting himself down a rope hanging nearby. “But everything is ready now.”

Logan nodded, glancing at the watch he wore. “What time did you schedule it to start?”

“In half an hour, when everyone is here.”

xxXXxx

The show had begun easily, but by the third act, everyone was looking carefully at Virgil for how scathing his remarks had been over the monsters which had been on stage.

“Everything alright, Virge?” Roman asked while the next act set up, a little shocked he wasn’t the harsh judge he’d expected to be.

The darker side just shrugged, “I’m just not impressed by people who can barely get the reactions of fear I got when I wasn’t even trying to scare you. Seriously guys, if you think they’re scarier than I used to be then I’m insulted.”

“Are you actually watching their performances or just focusing on our reactions, because the latter does seem vaguely insulting given the effort they are putting in.” Logan  asked, trying to understand that view to the contest, before the spotlights on the stage came up again.

A couple of acts later and Patton had his head hooked over Logan’s shoulder. “Seriously gone in depth with that fear research, Lolo?”

“Of course. I have to properly judge their performances after all. This way I can average out how well they fare over appearance, volume, unnervingness, difference from reality, shock factor, as well as danger.”  The explanation was concise to fit into the pause.

As the manticore chimera took the stage, Logan’s head fell into his hands. “I don’t even know where to start with how incorrect this is as a mix of different mythological creatures, Roman. Seriously what lead you to have one in your realm?”

“Shut up, Calculator Watch, and enjoy his performance for he is a fearsome foe.” Roman hissed back, eyes narrowing at the stumble revealing the others words had been heard.

As the performance ended and the being stood waiting for his criticisms there was still a dejected look in his eyes. 

“Don’t worry, Kiddo, you had me shaking in fear. It’s a 10 from me.” Patton cheered, trying to encourage him and ignoring the flabbergastered looks the others gave him.

“Unlike my soft hearted counterpart, I was not compelled by your performance to experience fear in its many forms, and must give you a 4.” Logan shook his head, dismissing the situation as Roman and Virgil gave their scores beyond leaning over to whisper, “You cannot just increase their score because they look upset Patton.”

“I can if I want to.” Patton insisted, sticking his tongue out, before refocusing on what was happening before them.

The only time any of the others got a full insight into how Roman was judging was after the Dragon Witch performed the last act of the evening. “My Dear, I know your usual outfits can be grand, but tonight you’ve outdone yourself. However it must be noted that this costume limits the techniques which make you so terrifying to my people as well as would leave me with an advantage were we to battle now. I simply cannot give you as high a score when taking that into consideration. Appearances can be frightening but not if they limit your ability to carry out a threat.” He lectured, before scoring her and retaking his seat.

“So what would I have been scored if you still saw me as a villain trying to harm Thomas?” Virgil hissed as they were supposedly deliberating the final winner, though that had been kept track of by one of Roman’s pages throughout the show.

“As frightening as you could be, I’d say a solid nine when you put in the effort, often going up to ten, but only a six or seven if you weren’t trying to scare us at all.” Roman muttered, scrunching his face a little in thought, and trying to ignore Patton’s protests at Virgil ever calling himself a villain.

Virgil nodded, glancing around at the citizens of Roman’s realm, some of which were laughing and joking together while others were comforted from the frights they’d had. “This was actually pretty good fun, Princey.”