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yanderefairyangel · 7 months

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Knowledge in VNC : About Noé's eyes

So, we all remember that when Noé was very, very young he was injuried in one of his eye right ?

While people wonder why his left eye specifically, I might have the answer to this.

In latin, left is said "sinister" but in french it gave the word "sinistre" which means omnious and therefore lead to countless surpestition of left briging you infortune, on why you should never eat with your left hand, or that the wrong decision is always to choose the thing in the left etc. This comes from the Greek since Roman saw the left/sinister as a sign of good fortune and since VNC is full of latin/french reference it might be why.

Anyway, that answered. I'd like to point out something. In the Opening 1 of VNC, 空と虚/The sky and the void, towards the end of the 1st chorus, those lines are mentionned :

その目に僕は見えるでしょう？But those eyes can see me, can’t they?

You migh wonder why there would be such a focus on vision. Well, for a long, long time vision is associated with knowdlege which is why the word "blind" can have the literal meaning of not seeing things and the figurative meaning of not seeing them in the sense that you are ignorant about it despite the answer being right under your nose.

So to explain this I'd like to use two mythological reference : Oedipus and Tiresias.

Oedipus is know very infamous for giving it's name to something Freud called Oedipus complex, but in Sophocleus's tragedy, Oedipus king, there is an interesting play between the vision and the knowledge thanks to the use of the verb σκοπέω/skopeo which both means to see/to observes and to judge/to think. Hence the play shows us an Oedipus that has the answer to the question he has at the begining reguarding Laios's murderer and the fact that his wife Jocaste is actually his biological mother, but he doesn't see it, he is figuratively blind which causes him to not see in the sense of him making terrible decision and when he finally begin to see the truth, he is crushed by reality which causes him to blind himself literaly, saying that he is now as blind as he used to be at the beginging of the play. I could go on with this due to how interesting this auto mutilation act is, however I am supposed to focus on VNC.

Following this logic, I think that Noé's "bad eyesight" is mainly symbolic to how he is blind to some things of the world. At the begining of the story, he is mainly a child at heart, an innocent and well intentioned young man. He is pretty much a white page, he doesn't know the reality of so many thing and concept such as love or salvation. His vision is cracked to shows how much of an unreliable narrator he can be. We already had many instance of Noé's vision on an event being portrayed differently. See when he met Vani for the first time :

VS in chapter 52

We may wonder why it changed right ? well, it's because Noé vision/perception of things is shaped by what he knows of it.

An example of this in the Ball masqué arc

That's how Noé sees Vanitas. He is portrayed as radiant here, and the reason isn't just because he saved him from Naenia, but because Noé saw Vanitas saving several vampires using the Reverse operation, which gives him hope.

Vanitas is seen as a saving figure because it restored Noé's hope. After all, he experienced the loss of his childhood friend due to Curse bearer degeneration and this happen right after Naenia made him remember that.

However, when Vanitas fails to save Catherine and kills her instead, the portrayal/way Noé's view him changes

Vanitas's dialogue is in a dark bubble leading to understand the dialogue has a dark connotation which worries Noé creating a transition

The panel where darkness seems to be growing and thus contrast with the light panel where Vani's hair shines brighter with the use of trame; replaced now by ink to signify darnkess as taken over, and here it's in Noé's vision.

When we are at the point where he will kill Catherine, Noé becomes more hesistant, the look on the panel showing his anxiety and then

He remembered the face Vani made when he claimed to save all the Vampires but with the dialogue he said a bit earlier, and while many commented on how threatning this face is, the fact that Noé remember this face right as Vanitas is about to kill Catherine says a lot on how he ended up viewing him very differently from the moment Vanitas saved him.

With this example, you can see that Noé's perception is limited to what he knows of the thing he see, modeling how he sees things.

By the time of chapter 52, Vanitas could have once again appears in his soft side, having saved Chloé and having Noé learn about his own insecurities. But in this chapter, Vanitas threaten to kill his childhood, friend, hence he doesn't view him anymore as the same and is unable to focus on him. An blatant example is how he failed to notice that Vanitas made this face when he tried to attack him.

He will admits it himself, but it isn't before Jeanne, an objective watcher call hims out

That he snaps out. And even then he doesn't understand

Until he sees himself in the mirror

The fact that Noé's vision of Vanitas is shaped by what Vanitas let him see of him, coupled by his blind self makes him an unreliable narrator, especially when it comes to what VNC is about : knowing who Vanitas is.

Hence, I think Noé's eyesight is actually refering to this element, that he is figuratively blind. At least for now.

But it should also be noted that Noé and Vanitas don't view the same thing in the same way as they have different knowledge of it and I think nothing illustrates it better then their duet song, Le Formidable where the chorus goes as such :

I walk into this

useless (Vanitas)

wonderous (Noé)

world

The chorus and some of the verse are constantly showing the dichotomy of how these two sees the world, contrasting between Noé optimism view and Vanitas's pessimistiv view, and the two untertwining creates a sense of discontinuity within the lyrics as the song keeps switching between their 2 POV which is complete polar opposite and this is more notable when the song comes to the chorus where both voices finally sings together and seems to have finally meet, but to show that while they live in the same world and lives the same adventures, they don't view things in the same way.

Now talking about Tirésias. He was a mythic poet that was cursed with blindness but the gods granted him in compensation the gift to see the future and he became a famous fortune teller. This is actually linked to an old, old belief about blindness. That although they can't see, the are gifted with a knowledge unabling them to see what is invisible to the common man. And while blind people often have sharpended sense, this is also linked to the old belief that the poet as prophetic talents.

So how does it link with Noé ?

Noé is actually an entity that is double : with have past Noé, the character and present Noé, the narrator/writer of the story. Past Noé is blind, but present Noé, while a potentially unreliable narrator is the one that knows how the story ends. After all, the end of chapter 1 sounds like a premonition.

And that's because it already happen. Like for Oedipus that couldn't escape his fate, the story Noé is telling is bound to end like that because it's what the narrator already experienced. There is that critic Jean Paul Sartre made about true stories not existing arguing that the moment you tell a story when you know the ending of it, it cease be authentic because we don't know how things are supposed to end. And indeed, no one but God can know what will happen in the future. It is what is name the occult, ot "what is hidden"... what people used to believe blind people could see as compensation for their defective eyesight.

That add up to the fact Noé was shown to be literaly defective within his eyesight due to his injury. But canonically Noé has the power to know something that others vampire in particular can't. As an Archiviste, he can knows the past of someone by drinking their blood and looking into their memories, which got him to have a lot of people looking down on him for that has it's allowing him to look on what is intimate, etymologitically, what is deep inside of them, that which they occult. And in the case of Vanitas in particular, it's something that 1/ Vanitas don't want him to know 2/Noé admits in chapter 52 to not know.

However, as I mentionned the narrator knows the ending of the story, which contrast with how Noé is ignorant of the events of VNC compared to his future self narrating the story. And in chapter 56, there is finally a hint of him learning his irremediable fate

From the mouth of Vanitas, Noé learns what is future self already knew and told the audience.

This might be an indicator that Noé will manage to pass of his initial blindess as he tells the story and thus recover a proper eyesight, signifying be able to see things other then through a veil of ignorance/innocence/subjectivity.

And this can be seen as through VNC, there are clear instance of Vanitas moments focused when Noé was simply not here, and thus should not know about it, specially when Vanitas nevers tell him about it, such as his meeting with Jeanne at the ball, his discussion with her during the lunch Lucas invited them to partake, their meeting at the ball, their date in Paris or in the cabine.

There is also the fact that he relates his meeting with Ruthven in the meantime, when he should have forgotten about it. Or, the most obvious piece of evidence, the fact that he was able to convey how Vanitas felt when he attacked him even though the chapter made it clear Noé had no idea on how he looked like

This for instance, shows that Noé/narrator was able to overcome his own biais and overcome the fact he would have remained an unreliable narrator had his vision not changed.

Long story short is that Noé/narrator knows and see what Noé/character doesn't know/see and shows us the ignorance he had at the time, while keeping in mind that Noé/character doesn't know while Noé/narrator is the one who knows everything. What is going to happen, how it is going to unfold.

Thus it is very important to remember that what Noé/character sees will constantly be challenged by what his future self saw and therefore knows.

And considering that VNC heavily deals with how Noé's vision of the world is constantly challenged throughout the story, I think it is possible that his character would evolve in such a way

#vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vanitas no shuki #jun mochizuki #noé archiviste #meta analysis #manga analysis #greek mythology

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pickalilywrites · 5 months

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Aruani fic. Armin is nervous about his first date with Annie on Christmas. Asks advice from his friends.

i don't write aruani a lot so thank you for this!!! it was fun!!! happy holidays :)

holidate to-do list

aruani. college au. 2205 words. read on ao3.

Armin's friends are piled up on the couch. Some are even seated on the floor because of the lack of available seats, but they don’t seem to mind. They sit in the dark, attentive as if they’re waiting for a movie to start when in reality they’re awaiting Armin’s upcoming presentation. The nervous marine biology student fidgets nervously in front of them, adjusting his sweater vest and tugging at the sleeves of his button up. In one hand he holds a clicker for his upcoming presentation.

One of Armin’s friends, Reiner Braun, raises his hand. “Can I ask that we skip over the reproduction cycle of whatever rare aquatic animal you’re going to be covering today?” he asks. “Because I think all these fish are cool and all, but hearing about how they reproduce really makes them seem so much less majestic afterward and I would like to cling onto whatever little wonder I have left for the world.”

“Weren’t you the one who said you would fuck a mermaid or a fishman?” Ymir asks. She’s sitting on a stool beside the couch, one arm thrown casually over Historia’s shoulder.

“That’s different,” Reiner says dismissively.

Armin clears his throat. “So, two things. First thing: this isn’t about fish or any kind of marine life. Second thing: If I were to give a seminar about marine life, I couldn’t possibly leave out reproductive cycles as they’re essential to any organism’s life cycle.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Reiner sighs.

“We are gathered here today to discuss a very important issue,” Armin continues before hitting the button on his clicker so that the slides appear on the blank wall behind him. The title slides have falling snowflakes and the words Planning the Perfect First Date in Times New Roman. “I am requesting your input on how to plan my perfect first date with a Miss Annie Leonhardt.”

The group of friends let out a chorus of oohs and Connie remarks, “Oh, I was wondering why she wasn’t here.”

“Not me,” Mikasa says. “I just assumed that you intentionally left her out.”

Mikasa and Annie’s rivalry is a strange one. The two are very similar: intelligent, of few words, and intensely loyal to their friends. Maybe it’s because they’re so similar that they clash so often. If Armin were to pick an incident that instigated the unspoken rivalry between the two girls, he would probably have to cite that time in the freshman year when Eren had given Annie a passing compliment in the gym. The funny thing is, Eren had forgotten what he had said as soon as it left his lips and Annie didn’t care enough to pay attention to him. It’s a bit unclear why Eren complimenting Annie had soured Mikasa’s opinion of the icy blonde so much, but the memory of it had left a lasting bad impression. The two had never been on good terms to begin with, and that incident had permanently doomed any goodwill between them.

“Why can’t you just ask Annie out normally?” Eren asks, belatedly throwing up his hand. He only ever participates in lectures if Armin’s giving them out in front of friends, much to his professors’ exasperation. Otherwise, Eren’s brain goes on autopilot. The only reason he’s getting passing grades in his courses is because Armin keeps dragging him to study sessions in the library every other day.

“That is an excellent question, Eren, but I would appreciate it if you guys would save any questions you might have for the end of my presentation,” Armin says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with one hand. “You may find that the answers will be presented in my slides, and anything that isn’t covered can be explored in the Q&A session at the end.”

“I’m confused,” Marco says. “I thought you and Annie were already dating.”

“You are one of the only person who can tolerate her for extended periods of time,” Mikasa points out, which isn’t … untrue. If there is one thing that differs between Mikasa and Annie, it’s that Mikasa is much more sociable than Annie, who prefers her social circles to only consist of two or three people at most.

“I thought you two were dating, and I’m pretty much Annie’s best friend,” Mina adds.

“I know that being best friends with Annie is impressive, but you do know that you’re only competing with Armin for that spot, right?” Reiner asks. Unlike Mikasa, Reiner is on good terms on Annie or at the very least Reiner doesn’t seem to butt heads with Annie as much as Mikasa does.

“No, we’re just … it’s not official anyway and I wanted to ask her on the perfect holiday date to cement our status as an actual couple,” Armin says. He’s desperate to turn the attention back to his presentation, but it’s difficult with a large group of people with short attention spans.

“Holi-date!” Connie and Sasha shout in unison before bursting out into laughter.

“Look, Annie is special to me and I want to show her that I think she’s special in return,” Armin says. He clicks through a bunch of his introductory slides. They might never make it to the end at this rate, so he should just skip to the most important slides.

Armin skips straight to the slides with a list of Christmas-themed date ideas and stands nervously at the side, his hand bouncing nervously against his thigh. He shifts from side to side and waits for his friends to read the slides.

“These are just a few examples of what I was thinking,” Armin says after an appropriate amount of time has passed. He fiddles with the clicker in his hands and looks down at the floor in front of him instead of his audience. His oral presentation skills have improved since entering university, but they’ve completely evaporated now and he can only stare at the floor and stammer like a new university student introducing himself at orientation and struggling to think of a fun fact.

“That’s more than a few. That’s an extensive list. I bet if you printed it out, it’d be a foot or two in length,” Jean says, and Armin winces.

“I suppose I was a little enthusiastic about putting this list together,” Armin mumbles. He looks desperately at his friends. “Can you please help me decide what I should do with Annie on our first date? Deciding is one thing, but I also have to prepare for it to make sure everything is absolutely perfect.”

“Armin, it’s a really long list,” Historia says.

The slide is filled from top to bottom with text in 8 point font. Armin’s friends have to squint to read the activities listed, and Armin curses himself for not printing out a copy of the slides for everyone like he had initially planned. No wonder this is going horribly.

“How about we all vote for the ones we like and whichever one is the most popular is the one Armin goes with?” Mina suggests.

It’s not the method that Armin would have went with. He would have preferred that people picked the date activity they thought would be the best and have everyone defend their choice in a structured debate, but Mina’s suggestion would probably save a lot more time and frustration.

“Does everyone have pens and paper?” Armin asks, although he thinks he already knows the answer. He and his friends may be university students, but they’re also horribly underprepared when it comes to the spontaneous need for writing tools. He sighs and passes out pens and paper to all his friends.

“In our defense, you told us we didn’t have to bring anything,” Sasha points out, and she’s not wrong. Armin just didn’t expect nearly everyone to come completely empty-handed.

“Sasha and I brought popcorn,” Connie says, holding out a bowl of popcorn that he and Sasha had prepared in the kitchen before the presentation started. He offers some to Armin, who shakes his head, and Connie moves on to offer it to the rest of their friends.

After everyone is done writing down their choices on their papers, Armin reads them all and tallies them up. Somehow, he ends up with even more choices for holiday dates than he had started with, but he probably should have expected it. It would have been too easy if things ran smoothly.

⋆꙳·̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

Armin waits outside of Annie’s apartment complex, shivering in the cold. The outfit Historia had chosen for him is better than any outfit he’s ever put together himself, but it’s not as warm as the puffy winter coats he typically wears. He huffs on his gloved hands and his hot breath against his freezing hands gives him a little bit of warmth.

Armin had allowed Historia to pick his ensemble today because Jean and Historia had been fighting over what Armin should wear to his first date with Annie. Jean argued that he should be able to pick the outfit as a fashion design major. Historia made the argument that she was consistently the best dressed person in their friend group to which Jean scoffed and said if everyone had as much money as Historia then everyone would be dressed just as nicely. To prevent the squabbling between his friends from growing into a full-blown argument, Armin had quickly suggested that Historia choose his outfit for when he asked out Annie and Jean pick his outfit for the date, and his two friends grudgingly agreed. So far, Armin has found that Historia has great style but doesn’t think very much about the practicality of the outfits she puts together.

“If you were going to wait outside in the cold, you should have worn a thicker coat,” Annie says, her sudden appearance making Armin jump. She raises an eyebrow as she takes in Armin’s wardrobe. “You look … nice.”

“Th-thanks,” Armin manages to respond. He’s not sure if he’s stammering because of his nerves or because of the cold. “I probably should have asked to meet in a café or somewhere warmer.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I don’t really mind the cold,” Annie says. She’s dressed in a knitted sweater and jeans, but she doesn’t seem to be shivering at all. “Did you want to go somewhere?”

“Ye-es,” Armin says, his voice breaking in the middle, and he coughs to clear his throat. “Actually, first I wanted to ask you out.”

“Ask me out?” Annie repeats. She purses her lips, head tilted slightly.

“Well, yes. Because, you know, I like you. A lot. And I want to go out with you,” Armin says. He had told himself he wouldn’t get nervous. After all, he and Annie spend so much time together that they’re practically dating already. Asking her out on an official date shouldn’t be that different, and yet he finds himself speeding through his words as if to get through his embarrassment as quickly as possible. “So I came up with a list of activities we could do together.”

Annie takes the list of holiday date ideas that Armin had printed out. It’s printed on two sheets of paper, front to back, and in 8 point font with half-inch margins. She has to bring the list closer to her face to read it. It’s impossible to tell what she’s thinking as her blue eyes scan the first page.

“They’re just … silly Christmas-themed date ideas, but I think it’d be fun if we could do one together,” Armin hears himself ramble. He doesn’t know if it would be better to just shut up or keep talking, but he decides that he’d rather avoid an awkward silence so he continues to talk. “I had a list and I had my friends vote on them. I thought they would all converge on one particular idea or maybe gravitate towards the same ones, but everyone had a different favorite. And then some people thought it would be a great idea to suggest even more date activities, and I couldn’t just ibgnore them after they’d been suggested -”

“Just one?” Annie asks, looking up from the paper.

Armin blinks. “What?”

“I can only pick one?” Annie asks. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Why don’t we just do all of them?”

“All of them?” Armin isn’t sure he’s heard correctly. “You … would you want to do all of them?”

Annie shrugs and glances down at the list again, flipping a page and then turning it to the back. “Well, I normally wouldn’t do a lot of these, but if it’s with you … I think it could be fun.”

Armin can feel his heart begin to flutter in his chest. “I … yeah, we could do all of it. I’d … I’d really love that.”

Annie smiles and raises a hand out for Armin to take. “Well, we’d better get started if we want to finish these anytime soon. You have a lot.”

Armin sees Annie’s hand extended towards him and he takes a moment to marvel at the sight of it before bounding over happily and taking his girlfriend’s hand, excited to begin checking off their Christmas date list together.

#aruani #armin arlert #annie leonhardt #snk #college au #requests #asks #answered #anon #anonymous

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lovelylogans · 8 months

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the parent trap

CHAPTER NINE: to defeat... the family civil divisions of napa and london respectively!

The boys plot. The world all over ought to be trembling in fear.

⁂

Roman gets it into his head that they ought to do a picnic.

“Dad and I go on picnics a lot back home,” Roman says. “There’s even that little fake beach by the lake, it would be perfect—”

It’s a nice enough idea, and frankly Remus is always down to rob the kitchens, so he agrees; he gets a plastic grocery bag, fills it up with goods, meets with Roman by the basketball court, and they make their way down to the fake beach.

Roman deflates.

There’s already a flock of over-fourteens there. Juniper and Hemlock, it looks like, so even older—around fifteen to seventeen. They holler and horse around and generally don’t seem to appreciate the beauty of nature around them.

“I guess it’s taken,” Roman says.

“Screw that,” Remus says, “you want to watch the sunset over the lake, don’t you?”

“Well—yes, but—”

And so Remus swaggers up to the group of boys.

“Isolation cabin’s claiming the beach tonight.”

There’s a chorus of laughter.

“Yeah?” One boy says, who seems to be the de-facto speaker of the group.

“Me,” Remus says. “We’re staying here either way. So either we can make our peace and you can ignore us and go, or you can stay here causing trouble and get spotted by one of the counselors.”

“Why should they care?”

“Because no one’s supposed to talk to us. There was a whole announcement about it: leave Isolation alone. You don’t want to get in trouble with the Marvins, do you?” Remus says pointedly.

The boys snicker at the thought.

“Fine,” Remus says. “You don’t want to get in trouble with me, then. You saw what I did to Marvins and the Maples—just wait to see what I’ll do to you.”

The boys weigh this. Then:

“God, it’s so lame—whatever, freak,” the de facto leader scoffs, starting the exile, and the campers scatter off after him.

“Right call!” Remus shouts after their backs, which makes a few of the boys pick up their pace.

“There,” Remus says, plopping himself down in the lounge chair. “Fake beach to ourselves—what?”

Because Roman’s just staring at him.

“I think you must just have a complete lack of shame,” he says. “Or decorum. Or—”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m a freak of nature,” Remus says comfortably. “Are you gonna picnic with me and watch the sunset like you wanted or not?”

Roman considers this. Then, primly, he settles himself on on a lounger.

“Thanks,” he says quietly.

“No prob,” Remus says, already digging through their makeshift picnic basket. “You want peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and marshmallow fluff? What am I saying—”

“Jelly,” they chorus together, and Remus hands over the sandwich, muttering “yeah yeah yeah, and I’m the weird one.”

⁂

“Say advertisement.“

“Ad-ver-tiz-ment.”

“Say aluminum.”

“Aluminum.”

“Wrong!”

Remus, held in a bridal carry by his brother, is dunked back into the water and brought up, as if they’re playing the Categories game in the pool rather than the Perfect Your Accent Or Get Water Forcibly Up Your Nose game.

“Try again,” Roman says.

“All-ooh-min-ee-yum.” Remus sighs. “Extra syllable. Right. All-ooh-min-ee-yum, got it.”

“Better,” Roman says. “Now ears.”

“Ears,” Remus says. “Ears ears ears ears ears.”

“Still all wrong!” Roman says, and dunks him for good measure.

“Ugh, I’m never gonna get that one,” Remus complains as soon as he surfaces. “Why do you have to pronounce ears so weird?!”

They’re interrupted by a cleared throat.

Paddling near them, keeping a lookout on the lifeguard, is Nick. He’s somehow managed to lay hands on sunglasses that are patterned with tie-dye at the edges. It actually looks really cool.

“...oh,” Remus says, and Roman lets him down so he can stand in the shallow end with his own two feet. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Nick mutters. “Uh… sorry about the whole. Y’know.”

“Exile?”

“Yeah,” Nick says. “Teagan feels bad, too. Like, we helped with all of that.”

Remus shrugs. “I masterminded it.”

“...sorry about the whole… y’know, James,” Nick adds, when he sees Roman standing near them.

“Why?” Roman says, then, nodding to Remus, “He isn’t.”

“That’s right, I’m sure not,” Remus says cheerfully. “If anything, I should have gone way harder with messing up Maple cabin, now that I know they would’ve just kicked us into the middle of the woods.”

They all stand in quiet, for a moment, in the pool.

“I know I can’t really talk to you here, but we can probably talk when we’re at home. Penpals?” Nick says.

Remus smiles. Just a bit.

“Sure. Penpals.”

“You too, James,” Nick says. “If you want. Whatever you did to his shoes was freakin’ hilarious.”

“Oh!” Roman says, looking surprised. “Erm—all right, sure. We can write.”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Remus says, then, “get over here, Roman, I’m dunking you under for that—”

Roman turns tail and swims quickly away, Remus chasing after him and laughing, and Nick must make his exit when Remus isn’t looking.

⁂

“What’s your school like?”

Remus turns to Roman; their beds are pushed together again, their respective bears tucked under their arms.

“Do you get to ride a big yellow school bus?” Roman says curiously. “Or are those only for TV?”

“No—I mean, we ride them sometimes, like, to field trips and stuff,” Remus says. “But Virgil or Pa usually drives me to school.”

“Oh,” Roman says, deflating.

“You want to go on a school bus?”

“They’re in so many movies!” Roman says.

“It’s a bus, Roman,” Remus says. “I know you have buses in England. You have, like, really famous buses in England. Do you ever ride those double-decker things?”

“Very rarely.”

“Ha! See?” Remus says. “Do they rent those out for British field trips, too? Hey, what is British school like?”

“Oh,” Roman says, visibly foundering in a way that makes Remus narrow his eyes.

“What’s that face?”

“What face? Erm—it’s just school, I suppose. It must be very like American school.”

Remus pokes Roman in the cheek. Again. And again. And—

“Okay, ow!”

“The face!” Remus says. “You made a face!”

“All right!” Roman says. “All right. I like my classes just fine. My classes are nice.”

Roman wavers.

“But?” Remus prompts.

“...but,” Roman sighs, then, squirming. “I dunno. I don’t think people like me much. I don’t have many friends”

Remus sits up in outrage.

“That’s not possible!”

“What?”

“You not having friends! Not being liked! You’re all—all artsy and talented and stuff, of course people are gonna like you!”

“You didn’t like me when we first met, and we’re literally brothers.”

“I—” Remus flounders. “That’s different. What the hell is going on over there?”

Roman shrugs, plucking nervously at some imaginary piece of thread in his sheets.

“Roman,” Remus says, poking his shoulder. “Ro-man.”

“...there’s this guy,” Roman mutters.

“I knew it,” Remus hisses, even though he hadn’t previously known anything about Roman’s schooling since five minutes ago.

“Richard Davies,” Roman begins.

“Hate him already.”

Roman gives him a Look. Remus quiets down.

“Richard Davies… I dunno. He was new to the area, like two or three years ago, but his dad and mum donate a lot of money to the school, so he gets away with a whole lot, and he’s on all the sports team, and I guess he just hates me.”

Remus is swearing eternal enmity with one Richard Davies.

“And since he’s on all the sports team, he made a lot of friends, and I mean—I was friendly with other people, but we weren’t friends, so when Richard Davies said Oi, James, and said I was out… it was easy for them to make the choice. I was out.”

“Jackasses,” Remus mutters angrily.

“That’s part of why Dad sent me all the way to camp here,” Roman says. “So I’d’ve done something fun over the summer, something I can talk about in school, so I could maybe learn some new things and make a new friend…”

“I’m your friend,” Remus says, and Roman throws his arms around Remus’s neck, pulling him in for a hug.

“You don’t count,” Roman mutters. “You’re my brother.”

The way he’s squeezing Remus so tightly begs to differ.

⁂

“Hey! Hey, uh—no one in particular!”

Roman pauses from where they’re walking by the football field—he absolutely refuses to refer to it under the American name unless he’s pretending to be Remus—and looks over.

Most of Maple is there; some have dispersed to drink water, others are running pass plays between them, just generally dawdling between matches.

Remus frowns. “I’m gonna go get some water. Yell if you need me.”

“Sure,” Roman says, and watches Remus go to the water fountain, and Asher runs up, huffing and puffing, a football under his arm.

“Hey,” Asher says, quiet. “Uh—everything going good? He’s not being terrible, is he?”

“No, actually,” Roman says. “It took us getting locked in the cabin during that rainstorm, but, um. I think we really get along.”

“That’s good,” Asher says. “I mean, weird. But good for you, I guess.”

There’s some more silence.

“We’re gonna miss you during this soccer game,” Asher says. “Monroe sucks as a striker.”

“Screw you, Asher!” floats down from further in the field.

“Yeah, he kinda does.” Roman says.

“You too, James!”

They both ignore him.

“...if we don’t talk, I bet you guys can play,” Asher says. “The Marvins didn’t say anything about playing together. Just talking.”

A little smile breaks out on Roman’s face.

“Yeah,” he says. “Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay!” Asher says eagerly, then, shouting, “HEY, JUST DON’T TALK TO THEM, WE CAN GET ROMAN AND REMUS IN HERE AND THEY CAN EVEN OUT THE TEAMS!!! JUST NO TALKING!!!”

Maple cheers, beckoning them over, and Remus knocks his head against Roman’s shoulder before they run in together to join the fray.

He probably should’ve insisted Remus go on the other team; he’s absolutely rubbish at football.

⁂

“Okay,” Roman says, popping out of the closet. “How’s this?”

Remus looks Roman up and down, reviewing the outfit Roman’s picked from Remus’s belongings—a tie-dye shirt, striped shorts, his sunglasses hanging from the neck of his shirt.

“Not bad!” Remus says approvingly. “Wait, say it in the accent, though.”

Roman clears his throat, and makes himself speak a bit more nasally in the Californian accent. “How’s this?”

“There we go!” Remus says, and he disappears into the bathroom, too, to select a test outfit for their test day.

Roman has to send him back during his first attempt—he picks clashing patterns, as if that’s something Roman would do—but eventually Remus emerges in a breezy red top, black shorts, and red butterfly clips in his hair.

“Much better,” Roman says in an American accent.

“Simply stunning, darling,” Remus says in a British one, spinning around.

“Okay,” Roman says. “So—we can’t break character, all day. We each go off and do our own thing, and we have to pinky-promise that we say if we get found out and why. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Remus says, then, at the look on his face, changes his voice back to match Roman’s. “I mean—absolutely right!”

They link pinkies; Remus squeezes, hard, and Roman winces just a bit.

“Good luck,” Roman says, crossing his arms over his chest and crossing his fingers, the same way he’s seen Remus do.

“Best of luck, Remus,” Remus says with a wink, and he begins to take a meandering path down to the cafeteria.

Roman takes a deep breath, and he spends some time messing up his hair just so.

When enough time has passed for him to be appropriately late to pass for Remus, he starts his swaggeringly slow descent to meet Remus in the mess hall.

Remus nods to Roman, fork and knife in hand, politely cutting up bits and pieces of eggs and putting manageable bites in his mouth.

Roman takes a breath before he reaches out and grabs food off of Remus’s plate, sticking out his tongue even as Remus pretends to protest.

When he’s sure no one’s looking, Remus winks at him.

Roman smiles to himself, even as he feels the awful sensation of scrambled eggs squished between his fingers.

Yeah. They’ve got this.

⁂

“Okay, for my activity, since we did your picnic—are you ready for this? I don’t think you’re ready for this.”

“I’m ready!”

Remus sings out a little dun-duh-duh-DAHH! as he presents his bounty: a bag stuffed with a projector, its associated speakers, snacks, and a multitude of DVDs.

“Where’d you even get that?” Roman says, awed.

“Doesn’t matter,” Remus says breezily. “If they didn’t want us to steal, they shouldn’t encourage kitchen looting. I’ll put it back. Listen—Virgil will totally catch on if you don’t know these references, so it’s time to study up!”

Roman’s already pawing through the collection of DVDs. “Scream… A Nightmare on Elm Street… Candyman… Alien and Aliens… Night of the Living Dead… Invasion of the Body Snatchers… Psycho… Beetlejuice—”

“Don’t say his name three times!”

“Remus, watching these is going to take us all night!”

“That’s why I brought so much sugar!” Remus says excitedly. “C’mere, help me string up one of the sheets for a screen, we’re totally starting with Beetlejuice, you’re totally gonna love it—you like Winona Ryder, don’t you?”

“I love Winona Ryder!” Roman says brightly.

Remus is pleased he’s managed to lull Roman into a false sense of security for their night of terrors.

previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

#my fic #my fanfic #tpt fic

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zombiequeenblog · 1 year

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TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER

tagged by: @xfilesinamajor

So honoured to be tagged, and sorry for the long-winded replies

currently reading: Joyland, by Stephen King, again. This novel is so good, emotionally compelling as well as scary, and is one of the only books to make my normally stoic partner cry (in a good way, it is one of King's less disturbing books). I find it difficult to find novels featuring the carny lifestyle, which I am interested in and consider wrestling to be the modern form of (I am a fan of AEW, especially the exquisite RJ City, who I got a Christmas cameo from where he proceeded to discuss Ghost lol, Chris Jericho, and Danhausen who definitely knows about Ghost and should convert RJ).

favourite colour: when I was a child reading Little House on the Prairie I decided my fav colour should be red because I have brown hair, and though I still like red because of the Cardinal, if I am honest with myself I adore pastels (please don't tell Morticia).

last song: Body and Blood remains a favourite, this was one of the first songs I heard from Ghost and it blew my mind at how joyously sacrilegious it is (I grew up roman catholic). The way he inhales before the chorus makes me weak and that grinding guitar after the bridge makes me lose my mind.

last movie: Prey for the Devil, which was a fun little not-too-scary movie which made me decide that if I were a Sister of Sin, I would have a sweet little habit of cornflower blue in my closet as well as the customary black ones, and I don't think Papa would mind.

sweet/spicy/savory: oooooh spicy and spicier, make it hurt please

currently working on: the next instalment of Cardinal/Mouse which I am greatly enjoying the process of even though getting what's in your mind down on the page can be tortuous.

I'm pretty sure everyone has already done this by now, but I'll tag @meowsaidmissy and @sucharide unless they've already done this and I'm too dumb to remember lol

#thank you so much for tagging me #no pressure to do this

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honorary-evil-genius · 2 years

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So. i recently learned that the song oranges (by Lawrence) is on patton's playlist. i listened to it. suffice it to say, i have Thoughts, but also its a really good song, honestly. props to Clyde Lawrence on this one, you're doing great things for the world.

I am fully prepared to be absolutely wrong. I don't really think the playlists are like. a super good a source for theories, just because songs written by people other than the creators almost certainly didn't have the show in mind. But i'm suspending my disbeief because I want to ramble insesantly <3

so about the mentioned Thoughts, we're going line by line, because this song is PACKED. fair warning, this is seriously long, proceed with caution.

starting with the chorus. its funny how nobody sings about oranges when you've got one in the palm of your hand. how much more clearly can you say "wow, this orange side guy is like right there, crazy that no one seems to have noticed :/" while looking into the camera? but jokes aside, the fact that it's on patton's playlist makes me wonder if patton feels remorse for how he's thought of the dark sides so far and is thinking that orange might not be that bad? he sure isn't feeling too confident in his ideals or past behavior towards them since POF.

i think patton learned a thing or two from janus in that episode, when janus turned out to not be so bad. maybe he's starting to rethink his previous ideas, after being so thoroughly disproven. a lot of things that patton assumed were true for years were picked apart, so maybe he's questioning if orange should even be hidden anymore. If that's the case, it probably won't actually be good for orange, because patton is on pretty thin ice with basically all of the other sides. (see the end card of WTIT for reference)

this is supported by the line I'm starting to mind how we take our ideas and put them in storage. we can assume that patton hasn't historically thought too highly of orange, and he might be rethinking that after POF. maybe asking if its a good idea to keep him 'in storage.'

but peel back the rind, who knows what you'll find. taking some risks, as if you're afraid. you know who is 100% going to hate it if patton starts reconsidering his ideas about orange? virgil. he's already on shaky terms with patton, and most likely really really doesn't like orange. who knows what would happen if orange were let loose? best not to take that risk. patton being less hesitant towards orange could inadvertently make it harder for orange to get virgil on his side, because virgil is primed to disagree with patton right now, especially since he's gotten closer to roman, who is also not at the best place with patton. virgil specifically would probably be less than thrilled about patton's opinions on weather a dark side is trustworthy or not, after janus. I also wouldn't be surprised if this line was also referencing some of pattons own conflicting thoughts, because it is a well known fact that janus and remus both scared him to death, and willingly revealing one of the others is a pretty radical idea, for patton especially. he didn't mind virgil so much, even from the start, but virgil was also here from the start. remus and janus have both been hidden, possibly partly because patton didn't like them. He is C!Thomas's morality, which canonically makes him the final decider on whether or not a side can be trusted. patton doesn't really trust his own judgement right now, possibly somewhat rightfully, and would be incredibly apprehensive about this orange guy. asking janus to let him go would be very unexpected, to say the least.

But honestly, patton being more open to orange could actually show some awesome character development? It might backfire on orange, but patton trying his best from the very beginning to understand a new side before he jumps to a conclusion would actually make a lot of sense in the narrative.

if life gave you an orange, would you make lemonade? . would you really want the orange side to be fundamentally different when the other dark sides have proven time and time again that they can be helpful as they are? is it right to expect that from them? also, since lemons are referenced, would it be okay to keep having janus hide orange? and is it more damaging to pretend everything is okay until you can't anymore, 'making lemonade out of an orange' as it were. patton has been there and done that with repression, and has shown to have grown from it. he almost certainly recognizes it in how the Others have been treated.

crazy how nobody sings about chocolate. it seems there would be, nothing so sweet, like we're living in the boxes of someone who's locked it. how can that be, it just ain't for me. this line sticks out to me because it sounds like the pinata metaphor from SvS, candy inside of a locked container. maybe it's a comparison patton is drawing, because in that situation, janus was right. and it would have saved them a lot of trouble to trust him in that situation. and just maybe, it's the same way with orange, and they should metaphorically open the box and let orange contribute. this goes back to the idea of patton trying to learn from his mistakes, especially in regards to janus and the Others. or, it's also possible that patton is uncomfortable with orange being withheld in the first place; ergo, 'how can that be, it just ain't for me'. we know that patton isn't really the champion of deception, and it makes him uncomfortable, he most likely isn't a fan of being lied to.

we are curving our motions and faking our bets, if you don't open the chocolate who knows what you get? immediately noticed the parallel to "if you pull back the rind, who knows what you'll find" from earlier. he wants to get to know this orange side like he knows janus and virgil, even if its really dubious, because he's learned from seeing past their scary exteriors and not having to wonder if janus being around makes C!thomas a bad person, or think that virgil doesn't want to be around any of them. he probably likes knowing that the people around him aren't damaging the integrity of the person he's part of, or that they don't hate him. even realizing remus didn't make C!thomas a terrible person made him much more content.

now purples got us blue, and silver's going grey. now purple's got us blue, huh? does this have something to do with how patton and virgil are kind of on the rocks? we don't really know the nature of these figurative rocks, but we can assume it has something to do with patton's need for control, from vigil's line in the end card of WTIT: "Oh, thank goodness, you're giving him permission." as we've established, virgil is not going to be happy about bringing in this orange guy, and is likely to be (how to put it) Skeptical when patton brings up the idea. it seems to frustrate virgil that patton's word is the law, so when orange is introduced, and patton tries to be on orange's side, it has the potential to really feel like patton is doing something without consulting the group, or like a betrayal, since virgil deffinitely has an "us versus them" mentality going on. purples got us blue indeed. (no but actually I think that's such an interesting facet of his character i love them all so 'freakin much) "silver's going grey" probably connects to remus, another side who isn't exactly on great terms with patton. the last time they talked face-to-face was the episode where patton was worried that remus's very existence made C!thomas a bad person. patton has been steadily losing support from the other sides, especially in regards to his ideas about the dark sides, so when it comes to orange, it. probably won't go over well.

oh, imagine a world where we don't play this game, with apples and oranges, nothing's the same. patton is not likely to trust his own judgement, especially after POF, and as established, he is losing support of the sides around him. i can see him trying to get a clearer perspective, and wanting all perspectives to do so. in other words, he wants to stop playing this game of 'good' and 'bad' and orange could help figure that out, since he probably doesn't have any beef with patton yet.(probably) could be great character development for patton to fully acknowledge that morality isn't as simple as right and wrong!

but that's just my idea, and to clarify, i don't think patton has the power to reveal orange, that's janus's jurisdiction, i just think patton might not be all that hostile towards orange when he comes around, and might kind of... egg janus on? or at least be open to listening to the orange side. this isn't his first rodeo. i am fully prepared to be wrong about all of this, the point is that i get to ramble about these wonderful character arcs and overanalyze, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!

#sanders sides #sanders sides theory #orange side theory #orange side #ts orange side #ts orange #tss #tss theory #ts patton #patton sanders #tss patton #tss orange #long post

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mothereliza · 1 year

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The Day After Christmas Eve

Sermon preached on 12/25/2022

Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-14(15-20)

Summary

Did the birth of Jesus change the outward circumstances of the people in Luke's story? Maybe not. Nevertheless, the birth of the Messiah brought joy, presence, and hope to everyone.

The day of celebration with carols, rejoicing, and great anticipation is here. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Some of you may have already opened your Christmas gifts, or if you are like me, you are waiting to open them when you get home after the Christmas Day service – a tradition I inherited from my Dad.

Whatever uplift we receive from Christmas begins to fade after the high of the gifts. Maybe the question creeps into our heads, especially after checking the bills and all the noise of the past few weeks: Did Christmas make any difference? Maybe Santa did show up for our little ones, and they are thrilled – their eyes are wide and bright. For them, Christmas changed everything. But for you and me, did Christmas change anything?

You might ask the same question today in our drama in Luke's Gospel. How did the birth of Jesus change anything for the characters?

We can start with the Roman Emperor Augustus and Quirinius, the governor of Syria at the time. The day of Jesus' birth probably made no difference in their lives. To them, it was perhaps another peaceful day. They would not have noticed the birth of a lower-class boy in a small backwater of their domain. No heavenly chorus visited the palace and sang to them. They crawled into bed that night, unaware of God's action in Bethlehem. Perhaps they awoke with an army protecting the family, kingdom intact, and not a hint of a change anywhere in the world – no clue about God's son born that night whose power would "pull the mighty from their seat and exalt the humble and meek."

What about Mary and Joseph? Eight months or so pregnant, Mary slowly trudged step by step to Bethlehem. Did anyone notice them in the world except the stable owner?

And Joseph? Last week, at our Wednesday bible discussion, I asked the group, "do you ever think about Joseph's position and his burden in this nativity story?" Well – not as much as they did about Mary. But we all agreed that Joseph proceeded to take Mary as his wife out of faith. And we know it is not easy to find faith when one's happiness appears to have disappeared. Yes – Joseph's happiness disappeared when he found out his bride was already with a child. Our experiences show us that happiness can disappear in personal circumstances - when the spouse cheats, your child has a severe illness, or you lose your job. So, after Joseph discovered that his bride-to-be was with a child, his mind may have swirled with confusion and asked many questions. But these questions did not change his circumstances.

How about the shepherds? However surprising the shepherds' visit might have seemed, the next day, the day after Jesus' birth, would have seemed no different. They were poor shepherds (probably hireling's hands) and had no money to bring – not even a lamb.

If you think about it, the birth of Jesus did not change the outward circumstances of the lives of the main characters in Luke's story. It did not chip away at the wealth and might of the empire, and it did not bring balance to the power in the world. All of that continued just as it had.

What about now? Does Christmas change much of anything? Hold on to that thought - Even though the outward circumstances of the characters in Luke's narrative had not changed, the shepherds had seen the angels. They had heard the sweet voices from heaven, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." Maybe as the shepherds told their story, those words stayed with them. Who could have forgotten such an experience and such a message? Did that experience give them more patience with life? Did it give them more endurance for their weariness? Maybe not. But, they knew that God had come into their world, noticed them, and shared the joy of the birth of the Messiah through them.

Mary and Joseph would still have a hard life, but they had experienced the angels' visit. They had experienced the shepherds' story. Their words may have sustained them, giving them meaning through this ordeal. What Joseph did – taking Mary home as his wife in response to the dream - advanced the plan for salvation.

So, as we look at the "seemingly unchanged" world on the day after Christmas, may we reach back to the melody of the heavenly host and the message of peace they bring!" Translation? God is working his purpose out – God has the last word, and we claim that promise - the promise that "God will favor whom he favors." Through us, God will care for those who do not have enough.

Even if it seems as though nothing has changed, let us open our hearts to how everything has changed since the first Christmas. Because of Christmas, we have hope for a new life!

So, as you gather with those you love on this Christmas Day, breathe new life into Luke's story; tell the story of your encounter with the Christ of Bethlehem. Let people know something has changed because of Christmas. May God, who sent his angels to proclaim the glad news of the Savior's birth, make you heralds of the Gospel. Amen!

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letkanatasayfuck · 2 years

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hello i have not stopped thinking about how fucking funny it is that BAE is the one group who uses English the most in their music so here are some of my fave English lines in their songs (with brackets for romanized/translated japanese/korean words!! and romanization used where the sentences change grammatically to keep the lyrics' og flow!!)

"[then] OK JUST PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON LOCATE [connect to the] PARTY": this part was SO good like allen being smooth with it instead of so harsh and rough like he usually is and it's so much fun to sing bc of it!!

“MUSIC MAKE US HOT LIKE PICASSO”: hajun i love you but what the FUCK does this mean. i have no clue!! but it's so catchy!!

"everything you can imagine is real . . . like [paradise and] CHILL": as long as we're on PARADISE lyrics. i LOVE this one. especially how hajun's voice dips really smooth near the end UGH it's like asmr for me

"play button [hitotsu de] hit yo groove": another high quality PARADISE line!! as you can tell i am biased for this song!!

"[everyone] how you doin' WHAT'S UP!": okay this one is SO funny bc it sounds exactly like how'd you expect a guy who speaks only one language trying to combine two and it's just. god. normally they're so on point with their flow but something about this makes me lose my shit

"every scar will build my throne": i just think this metal as fuck and i would totally throw it into a fantasy setting. god bless you hajun i'm just so sorry i know what your scars are :'))

"oh yeah we're feelin' good, [look] it's like an [antlions' trap]": this is just more blatant appreciation for how fucking smooth hajun is. just. <333

"no struggle no progress, we can make it happen": look everything about wavin flag is fucking powerful but i LOVE how anne sings this with so much confidence and self-assurance. like. what the fuck. and this is only like. THREE SECONDS into the song

from "never look back going all the way up (]burning with passion, attack on] PLAYER)" ------> "BAE SOUND HIT THE GROOVE": ALL OF THAT AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN HAS ME FUCKED. THE RAMP-UP. THE ENERGY. HAJUN GOES SO HARD AND DOES IT SO WELL. and allen is a fantastic assist too LMAO

on that note??? the ENTIRETY of anne's chorus makes me lose my shit every single time. i've got "[GET UP] STAND UP NEXT STAGE, [BECOME THE WIND] WE ARE THE NEW AGE" implanted in my brain. like. WAVIN' FLAG is hardcore and i love it for that

EMBLEM is another one where the chorus goes hardcore and i can't just break it all down . . . like how they go from "MY EGO MY EGO" in english and match it with lyrics that phonetically sound the same in japanese but still add meaning to the song??? THAT WAS A FUCKING POWER MOVE. WHAT. THE COINCIDENCE OF THAT BEING WHAT THEY NEEDED. SAW THE OPPORTUNITY AND GRABBED IT IN A CHOKEHOLD.

“BANG! gonna blow your ass”: absolutely adore this one. it’s so distinctly allen in that it’s got explosions and cursing and it’s a threat. like. allen. baby. please. i would prefer my ass NOT blown up but also!!! i support you!!!

"you can't stop me lovin' myself cause i'm so genius (EY)": look i'm sorry but the way allen slides into the "EY" at the end cracks me up EVERY time. he sounds so arrogant and i love that for him!!

also just. hajun's solo part from "some people say i'm wrong" to "i'm gonna be who i wanna be": i fucking love that for him. he DESERVES to be that cocky and unbothered!!! he's had enough shit!!!

special shoutouts go to:

"jumping into my world" bc fuck if it isn't one of the most serotonin-boosting songs i've heard in a while. i love how anne and reo take turns with the build-up to the chorus. it's so catchy and singing along to it cheers me up every single time

"why do you like me": THIS. THIS FUCKING SONG. THE ONE MASHUP LINE IN THE CHORUS MAKES ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS. SATSUKI AND ANNE DESERVE HAPPY THINGS ONLY OKAY I LOVE THEM

"sound of voltage" bc allen's enthusiasm for metaphorical explosions will never not be funny. "can you hear the sound of revolution, we never stop evolution" is such a good line. and the allenkana fuel . . . "enemy enemy [go beyond] you're like my frenemy, suzaku & kanata [mixed together] BOOM chemistry" . . . allen is crushing and he is crushing hard oh my god

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therealvinelle · 3 years

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I agree that Aro definitely is not straight, but if he is gay and not bi, why window shop for a wife? If he wanted a partner for some reason, why not find a male one? It was a different era, yes, but are vampires really homophobic?

So, for this meta, we’ll have to get historical. Before we do, keep in mind that while I know Ancient Greece better than most, having studied it (introductory level classes only, mind), I don’t know it well enough to be any kind of authority on the matter. History, more than any other discipline I can think of, is not respected as an academic field, and people with poor to no understanding of historical hermeneutics will make very bold assumptions that they then have too poor understanding of history to realize are bullshit. This is a disclaimer because I don’t want to join in on the chorus of authoritative-sounding people on the internet with no verifiable credentials who spout things about history that are then taken to be gospel truth by readers because the author made it sound good.

More, I say this because your question is asking me to explain the morality and social norms surrounding a character from 14th century BC Greece. And this man would not, for the record have been Ancient Greek, he would have been Mycenaean Greek. Very quick history lesson: Mycenaean Greece was a flourishing society that suffered a downfall, Greek civilization fell into its very own dark ages, until around 800 BC when Greeks began forming what would become the Ancient Greece we know and love. This in turn means that I can’t very well read up on the marital and sexual norms of Ancient Greece when I’m researching for Aro, because he was five hundred years old already when Ancient Greece became a thing.

And your question concerns cultural history. And for that we’re going to have to look at how we know the things we know about history. How history is studied.

Historians have two kinds of sources: archeological findings and written records. (I’m aware that oral tradition, like the one carried by the Aborigine people, isn’t technically one of these, but to my understanding it’ll be treated to similar analysis as written records, which leaves us with the two types of sources standing strong.) These sources are analyzed, and we apply various theories and models onto them to make sense of the context they were written in. The more sources we have, the more we can refine or eliminate these theories or models.

More, history is an ever evolving field. There are movements and schools of thought that influence how history is written (marxism in history, that is, history as a class struggle, was heavy in the 60′s and I think until the 80′s), which means that how a certain culture will be perceived today is not the way it was perceived a few decades ago, nor will it be perceived the same way a few decades in the future.

You see why I am daunted by you asking me to give you an answer about sexual and marital norms for a guy who lived 3000 years ago, and I hope you’ll understand why I feel this word vomit is necessary.

Now, the danger with Mycenaean Greece is that it’s a society it’s easy to feel we know a lot about, because it was the precursor to Ancient Greece, and we know a lot about the latter. But, first of, the reason why we know as much as we do about the Ancient Greeks is the Romans. The Greeks wrote about their history, their philosophy, their government, and they wrote plays and told stories. However, that was two thousand years ago and their writings would have been lost to the sands of time if the Romans hadn’t idolized and sought to emulate their society. This meant preserving their written records. This tradition was carried on by the Christians, in part because Hellenistic philosophy was incorporated into Christian philosophy. We have neo-platonism to thank for Christian asceticism, the “mind over matter” cornerstone.

What I’m getting at with all of this is that we know the insane amount about Ancient Greece that we do because of some very unique circumstances, and so we can make very sophisticated theories about what the Hellenistic world was like. It’s still detective work, but not Pepe Silvia type of detective work. This is not the case for Mycenaean Greece. We know a comparative lot about Mycenaean Greece, considering how long ago it was, but there is very much we don’t know.

With Mycenaean Greece, we are dealing with a lot more uncertainty. We haven’t deciphered one of their two writing styles, and a lot of the text we do have is very fragmentary. Coming up with detailed societal models for Mycenaean Greece, and for the 14th century BC specifically, is... well I don’t know enough about what this society left behind to know what historians have to work with, but I imagine they have their work cut out.

More, I haven’t studied this at all, which means that any attempt on my end to research this would be stumbling around in the dark.

One example: the Illiad and the Odyssey, while composed around the 8th century BC, were set in the early 12th century BC, which is nearly Aro’s time period. The Illiad depicts a homoerotic relationship between Patroclus and Achilles, and both works depict a lot of matrimonies, so I wish I could use it as a source. However, not only would this time gap alone make these sources questionable, but there’s also the matter of the Illiad and the Odyssey being transmitted orally, from bard to bard. Changes were made over the years. For example, the technology described in the Illiad is from several eras, as the warriors will be using bronze weaponry in one book and then switch to iron in the next. This game of telephone is what happens when a story is transmitted orally from person to person. So, while it’s tempting to use these works as a sort of reference point, the possibility, likelihood even, that the bards made adjustments to keep the old story entertaining for their contemporary audience is strong.

For this reason, I can’t give you any kind of historically correct analysis on what the marital or sexual mores would have been like in Aro’s time. Even if the knowledge is out there, I don’t have it.

But I can say this, spouses have for the longest time been partners. Men and women got married, even in the gay, gay, Ancient Greece, not just to have children but because they complemented each other, they were partners. Men needs wives, and women needs husbands. And a partner was canonically exactly what Aro was looking for, feelings had nothing to do with it:

After Caius and Marcus had found their romantic attachments, Aro decided to find his own, although rather than finding his other half in another vampire Aro decided to create his own instead. Aro had a certain type of woman in mind and he found what he was looking for in Sulpicia. He successfully courted her and she came to fall in love with him.

As for vampires being homophobic, I think that is for another post about what culture they bring with them into their new life. But to be brief I’ll say that while the individual vampire can be homophobic, there can be no homophobia at an institutional level because vampires have no institutions. And it’s the institutional homophobia that gets ya. It’s what the whole fight for gay rights has been about: secure legislation against discrimination and that protects gay people. (The right to marry and protection from employees firing LGBT employees comes to mind as examples of this.)

So, no one could force Aro to marry a woman.

And I’d go into a rant here about how the prospect of gay marriage, of even identifying as homosexual (the labels homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual are very new and, to my recollection, were born off of the Western psychiatric discipline as men who slept with other men were diagnosed with homosexuality. I imagine a man from the Antiquity would be confused at the notion that just because he likes to sleep with dudes he shouldn’t get married to a woman), was unthinkable up until very recently, but I just made this obscenely long rant about how I can’t really make these kinds of guesses, so I’m not gonna.

I think being married to a woman and then banging hot dudes who came along suited Aro just fine.

Also, I can’t believe I’m doing this, but - I’m going to encourage history asks. Because this fandom has a bit of a history problem, as a lot of the characters are from different time periods and many feel unsatisfied with the way Meyer handled that. I am by no means a historian, but I know several of the historical periods the characters of Twilight are from well enough to make educated guesses.

So, hit me with your worst.

#WHEW #aro #sulpicia #aro/sulpicia #history #twilight renaissance #twilight meta #twilight #this is very long and I'm tired so I didn't proofread #GERONIMO as they say #hope there are no embarrassing mistakes #also yes I know I just made a pretentious ass of myself #but i'm writing twilight meta on tumblr so i left my dignity behind long ago #doktrajediscovery #ask

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imlovethomassanders · 3 years

Text

Eyes are the Windows to the Soul(mates) - Chapter 5 (FINAL)

You can also read on ao3

One last huge thank you to @strongindependentcheesecake for beta reading this whole thing. I appreciate it.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Summary: The lucky few who have a soulmate are born with heterochromia, with their left eye being the color of their soulmate’s eyes and their right eye being their own color. Not only was Virgil one of the lucky few to have a soulmate, but he was given four. His left eye changed colors every time he blinked, rotating between his four soulmates’ eye colors. His rotating eye colors caused him to be a bit of an outcast growing up, but when he finally leaves for college, things start to fall into place. This is the journey of five strangers finding each other.

Pairings: DLAMP with background Remile

Warnings: None I believe

Words: 4999

Taglist: @touchstarvedvirgil @lamp-calm-sanders @ninjago2020 @confinesofpersonalknowledge @secret-novelisthost18 @phander-sides @sherlock-lives-on-bakerstreet @bookbingingproblem @viana-dascolli @sharktryingtofly @crofters-n-falsehoods @turnedthefreakingfrogsgay @little-kat07 @romano-hottopic

Patton was very, very, very excited. It was finally time. They had all finished school and they were finally moving in together!!

Patton couldn't help but be giddy as he helped bring up boxes into their shared condo. While it was more expensive than getting an apartment, with four of them (hopefully five, soon!), the extra space was very much needed.

Patton was just so happy to finally have his three soulmates together. He couldn't help but constantly be hugging on one of them. While it was a bit inconvenient while they were unpacking boxes, none of them dared complain about it when Patton was pressing such soft kisses all over their faces.

When they had unpacked enough boxes to be considered livable, they all collapsed onto the mattress on the floor, their bed frame coming later that week.

"We need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. We can not live off the snack cakes and cheez-itz Patton brought," Logan said.

"That's how I lived throughout high school," Virgil said.

"I can not and will not let you resume such a diet," Logan responded.

"Well tonight, I'm ordering take-out," Roman said as he pulled out his phone.

Nobody objected. They were all too tired to even think of going to buy things to cook with. And then they'd have to unpack the dishes and dear god Patton was getting exhausted just thinking about it.

Forty minutes and a bunch of Chinese take-out containers later, the four of them were back on the mattress.

"The spare room can be a studio!" Roman mused. "Logan and I can use it for our writings while you two can use it to paint."

"I am quite excited to get the bookshelves up," Logan said. "The new ones we bought are very nice."

"I'll finally have a good place to keep all my records, and- hey, Pat? Are you okay?"

Patton wiped the tears that had quietly fallen down his face.

"It's just... I'm so happy to finally have all of us in a home together."

Virgil gave him a lopsided grin and pulled him against his chest. "I promise, the feeling is mutual."

"Well... almost all of us," Roman said, a hint of sadness in his smile. Patton paused to look at all of them, their beautiful eyes along with the golden one of their unfound soulmate.

"We'll find them soon," Patton whispered. "I'm sure."

"...I wonder what they'll think," Virgil muttered into Patton's hair. "When they find out that the four of us have been together for a while."

"I pray they're not alone," Roman muttered as he moved to spoon Vigil, reaching for Logan over Patton. "We've been so lucky to find each other..."

"It accomplishes nothing to fret over it," Logan said as he turned on his side beside Patton and took Roman's hand. "We will meet them when the time is right."

"I know," Patton huffed as he leaned against Logan. "But I can't help but be impatient."

"I wonder what they're like," Roman mused.

"Lovely. Amazing. Perfect," Patton suggested.

"Let's not set too high expectations," Logan said. "Whoever they are, they will be wonderfully flawed and wonderfully human. Not perfect."

"Hmmm, I don't know about that, Specs," Roman said with his cocky grin. "You all thoroughly and fantastically beat all my expectations."

Logan scoffed, but didn't feel like starting an argument.

Patton yawned, soon followed by Roman, then Virgil, then finally Logan.

"We really should put sheets on the mattress," Logan said, though made no effort to move.

"Yeah, probably," Patton sighed. No one moved.

"Okay," Virgil said after a moment as he pushed himself out of Roman's arms, causing Roman to whine at the loss. "Let's go get ready for bed. We can not afford a dentist's visit for cavities so get up."

Roman groaned as he fell on his back, but eventually pushed himself up alongside Patton and Logan.

Logan did manage to persuade them to put bed sheets on the mattress, and as soon as the four of them had their arms around each other they immediately fell asleep, the busy day finally catching up to them.

Virgil huffed as he pulled his hoodie tighter around him. Though he had lived here for a few months now, he still wasn't used to the large crowds and today the crowd seemed worse than usual. People were touching him from all angles and he just wanted to get home.

He stared at his phone, doing his best to text Patton while watching where he was walking. He thought he was doing an okay job when he accidently hit shoulders with another pedestrian.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," Virgil said as he quickly got on his knees to help pick up the things that had fallen out of the stranger's arms: a book on philosophy, a stack of notes titled "Moral and Political Philosophy", a copy of "Lord of the Flies," and a pamphlet called "How to Care for Your Royal Python."

The stranger said nothing as he pushed up his sunglasses and quickly grabbed the papers on the ground. Virgil glanced up to see sharp cheekbones and scarring on the left side of the stranger's face. He glanced back down before he could observe much closer details, not wanting to be caught staring.

He handed the last of the papers to the stranger, and the stranger walked off with a huff. Virgil, rattled by the whole encounter, now really just wanted to get home.

"Hello!" a chorus of calls came from the living room when Virgil opened the front door. Virgil smiled as he slipped off his shoes and he heard the sound of Patton running up to him.

Patton wrapped his arms tightly around Virgil's neck and Virgil held back, grin growing larger.

Patton eventually pulled back to press a quick kiss to Virgil's lips, then leaned back to look at Virgil's face when his smile dropped and his eyes widened.

"What?" Virgil asked anxiously as his grip tightened around Patton.

"Virgil, your eyes!" Patton exclaimed. That got the attention of Logan and Roman, and Virgil heard the couch shift before the two walked around the corner.

"What about them?"

Patton frowned. "You... you don't know?"

Roman gasped and Logan's eyes widened as well, and Virgil ran to the front bathroom.

His face paled when he saw what they were talking about. In the mirror, two gray eyes were staring at him.

It could've been anyone. How many people had he talked to today? The attendant at the subway, the woman he sat next to, the barista, the employees at the art store, the man he bumped into, the woman at the crosswalk-

"Virgil?" Patton asked quietly. Virgil glanced to the doorway to see the three of them looking at him with worried expressions. It was just then that Virgil realized he was struggling to breathe.

He reached for them and immediately Logan took his hands in his, guiding him to sit on the toilet lid as Logan led him through his breathing.

"I- I don't know who," Virgil said. "I never noticed anyone's eyes today. I wasn't paying attention, I-"

Roman shushed him gently as he squatted down to be eye level with Virgil. "It'll be okay, love," he assured. "We'll find them. We know they're here, in the city. I'm sure one of us will run into them soon."

Virgil just nodded as Roman ran his hand up and down Virgil's arm. He let himself lean against Roman, head resting on his shoulder, trying to ignore his running thoughts of what is their soulmate is just a tourist and they leave the city before they get to meet them, or what if it's forever until they meet again because the city's population is so large and-

"Virgil, dear, you're spiraling," Logan said as he squeezed Virgil's hands, causing Virgil to blink back into focus.

"Come to the couch with us, hm?" Roman asked as he placed gentle kisses on Virgil's head.

"We'll watch your favorite movie?" Patton asked. Virgil couldn't help but smile. They were trying to distract him from his own thoughts. It wasn't easy, but a few kisses and cuddles were usually enough to at least quiet them down a bit.

"Yeah, okay."

It was only a few days later as Roman was rushing down the subway station steps. Today was an audition he really wanted to make, so of course it was just his luck that he was almost running late. He quickly swiped his card and went through the turnstile, running towards the subway platform.

Panic rushed through him as he saw the doors closing. And in a move that he would call "brave" and Logan and Virgil would call "idiotic", he risked it. He ran towards the door and just barely made it through, though his momentum caused him to run straight into someone standing, causing them to let go of the hand rail and stumble back.

The man glared at him as he pushed Roman off, dusting off his shirt and readjusting his messenger bag.

"Oh, my sincerest apologies. I didn't... mean... to..." Roman trailed off. He saw a man with a large scar down the left side of his face, sharp cheekbones, and some of the prettiest eyes he had even seen. His right eye was golden brown, while his left was Patton's green. The man's eyes widened as he watched Roman's left eye morph from his gold into Roman's own dark brown, and a large grin grew on Roman's face.

The subway started and Roman was jolted forward. His soulmate reached out and steadied him.

"Hi," Roman said breathlessly.

"...Hi."

Neither said anything for a moment when his soulmate realized he was still holding onto Roman and quickly let go.

"I'm Roman."

"I'm-"

"One of the most gorgeous men I've ever had the privilege of seeing?" Roman said, so quietly he was almost worried his soulmate didn't hear it, but the slight blush growing on his cheeks told him that he did.

"I'm Janus."

"You have no idea how wonderful it is to have finally found you."

"I believe I have a better idea than you think."

Roman flushed.

"I see you've met the others," Janus said, just a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Which one did I happen to run into that day?"

"Virgil," Roman smiled. "You met Virgil. He'll be really glad I found you. He was really freaking out about it."

"Virgil," Janus repeated quietly to himself.

"And there's Patton, the green, and Logan, the blue. Oh, you must let me bring you to the apartment, they'll adore you. They'll be so excited when I tell them-"

Roman was interrupted by the subway intercom announcing its arrival to the next station. Alarm shot through Roman when he realized this was his stop, but he had something much more important to attend to now.

"This is your stop?" Janus asked, though it wasn't really a question. "Where are you headed?"

"An audition," Roman said as the subway came to a stop. Roman hadn't grabbed hold of the handrail and had to be yet again saved by Janus to keep from stumbling. "But it's not that important."

Janus raised his eyebrow, clearly not buying it.

"I can skip. Let me take you somewhere. Have you had lunch yet? I-"

"Oh, stop," Janus said as the doors opened. He grabbed a pen from his bag and took Roman's arm, pushing up his coat sleeve to quickly write his number. "I have a job interview to go to. And even if I didn't, I would not let you sacrifice your audition for a date."

Date. Date. It clicked in Roman's mind that he would not be able to take this gorgeous man out on dates and he felt his face grow red again.

"Call me when you're finished," Janus said as he pulled Roman's coat sleeve back down.

He then proceeded to take Roman's hand in his and bend down to kiss it gingerly. "And good luck," he looked up and said with what he knew was a charming smirk. He then proceeded to nearly push Roman off the subway right before the doors closed, Leaving Roman a bit flustered and speechless on the subway platform.

Roman walked out of that audition room fucking delighted. Using his newfound excitement and adrenaline, he felt he did really well at the audition, and the director and casting director seemed to like him pretty well. He was feeling good about his chances.

But now he could finally do what he truly wanted to do the whole time. He pulled out his phone and called Janus.

"Janus?" Roman asked as soon as the line was answered.

"Hello, Roman," Janus replied. And though Roman barely knew him, he could already hear the confident grin that accompanied the lilt in his voice. "Doing well?"

"Doing fantastic. I think it went really well. I think I really captured the intricacies of the character, and not to brag but I'm pretty sure the director loved me. She said that I- Oh. Uh. How did your interview go?"

Janus chuckled. "It went well. I'm glad to hear your audition did, as well. Care to tell me about it over tea?"

Roman was already too far gone. "I'd love that."

"I picked a spot a few blocks away from the subway station you got off. I'll text you the address. Shall I order you a drink?"

This cafe was not one of the quick and cheap coffee grabs Roman and Virgil would go to each morning. This one was larger, not crammed between two other buildings. It had floor to ceiling windows with hanging plants surrounding the edges. And inside, sitting at a table by the window, was Janus - sipping a cup of tea and reading.

Roman couldn't help the large grin that grew on his face when he saw Janus. The bell above the door dinged and a smile also grew on Janus' face when he looked up and saw Roman.

"Don't screw this up, don't screw this up, don't screw this-"

"I ordered your tea," Janus' smooth voice interrupted Roman's thoughts. "I also asked for honey. I know actors swear by it."

"Thank you," Roman smiled as he sat down, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants.

"So you're an actor?" Janus asked as he lifted his tea to his lips. Roman flashed a grin he hoped was confident as his hands gripped his pants.

"Indeed I am!" Roman said. "I have a degree in theatre and have been acting my whole life."

Roman's knuckles turned white in his lap. He was unfamiliar with nerves that weren't the exciting rush before going onstage - these nerves made his leg shake and teeth clench, no matter how hard he tried to smile his mouth into relaxation.

"What about you? What do you do?" Roman asked as he made sure his hands weren't shaking before picking up his own cup.

"I'm getting my doctorate in philosophy, but with exams coming up I'd rather not spend a second thinking about it longer than I have to. Please, I'd love to hear more about you."

Roman desperately tried to think of anything he knew about philosophy, but of course his final soulmate would major in the one class Roman had to drop in college.

"What would you like to know?"

"What about me scares you?"

Roman quickly looked up from his teacup to look at Janus' face.

"Wha- Nothing about you scares me! Why would you say that?"

"Honey, your leg has been shaking nonstop and you won't look at me."

Roman gaped as he put his cup down. Janus' face fell just a tad, and Roman wouldn't have been able to tell if he hadn't been only focusing on Janus' expression.

"It's the scar, isn't it? I know it's off putting-"

"No!" Roman exclaimed, a bit louder than he meant to. "No. Trust me, I have been taken by your beauty the moment I saw you. The scar doesn't bother me at all."

Janus blinked in surprise before quickly recovering.

"If not that, then what's got you scared, dear?"

Roman hesitated before sitting back in his chair.

"When I met Logan, I met up with him in a coffee shop. I then proceeded to thoroughly fuck up the entire conversation. It took two weeks before we were able to spend time together like soulmates are supposed to."

"And you didn't want to fuck up this one?" Janus asked. Roman nodded, avoiding Janus' gaze.

Roman was startled when a gloved hand reached over and gently tiled his face up. Janus was looking at him with soft eyes, juxtaposed only by the huge smirk on his face.

"Roman, honey, I don't know the situation with Logan, but when a handsome man literally falls into my arms, what else am I supposed to do but be utterly taken?"

Roman blushed, and his embarrassment only grew when he chased after the hand that Janus took off his face. Janus chuckled and took Roman's hand across the table.

"The man the universe just gave me then proceeds to compliment me then offers to drop everything to spend time with me? How sweet. Naive, and a bit foolish, but so incredibly sweet."

Janus ran his thumb over Roman's knuckles the whole time. He leaned in across the table, and Roman couldn't help but follow.

"Trust me, dear Roman. Beautiful, courteous Roman. You don't have to worry about me."

And Roman was already gone.

Virgil was just lounging on the couch, scrolling through Tumblr when Patton got the phone call from Roman. He was going to bring their final soulmate to their home.

The first thing Virgil felt was relief. Relief that he hadn't screwed up, and that he hadn't missed the chance to find their final piece.

The second thing Virgil felt was joy. The three of them were ecstatic as Patton and Logan quickly tried to tidy up the apartment. Finally, after so many years of waiting, they were finally going to see them - they were on their way to their home.

The last thing Virgil felt was, unsurprisingly, anxiety. What if their final soulmate didn't like him? What if he somehow screwed up the introductions and their soulmate decided they didn't want anything to do with him? It didn't matter that Virgil had done this three times prior - meeting new people always stressed Virgil out, especially when the person was so important.

After what felt like an eternity (but was probably only twenty minutes), they heard the lock on the front door click. Patton reached for both Logan and Virgil's hands and squeezed them, and Virgil didn't know if it was to calm him or Patton himself.

Roman walked in with a wide smile on his face, and the man who followed behind him made Virgil's breath hitch.

He was even more gorgeous than Virgil remembered from the day they had run into each other. Here, Virgil could truly appreciate his features. And with no sunglasses to cover his eyes, Virgil got to watch as his eye faded from green, then blue, and finally into his own light brown.

Virgil couldn't help but glance over to Patton and Logan. Their eyes were both now only green and blue respectively, and Virgil felt a wave of fondness tighten in his chest. Their eyes were so perfect, so them. Part of Virgil knew he'd miss seeing his partners' eyes in each other, but most of him now was just in love with how beautiful they were.

Roman closed the door behind them.

"So this is-"

Before Roman could finish speaking, Patton cried out an "Oh!" and launched himself at the unsuspecting man, wrapping his arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

The man was startled, and awkwardly patted Patton's back, but did nothing to push him away.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you!" Patton was crying. Their soulmate's mouth twitched up in a small smile.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

Patton reluctantly let go of their soulmate and gave him a sheepish smile.

"I'm Patton."

"Janus."

"Logan." Logan stepped forward and held out his hand. Janus shook it while Roman bit his lip to keep from laughing. It was an odd time to be so practical, Virgil thought, but another fond wave washed through him because that's just how Logan was.

Janus then looked over at Virgil.

"I've met you."

"Yeah, um. Sorry about that. Running into you I mean," Virgil said and immediately winced. Janus raised an eyebrow.

"Come sit!" Patton said as he ushered the four of them into the living room. "I'll make coffee! Or tea. Or cocoa. Which do you like, Janus?"

Virgil watched as Janus placed his now empty tea mug on a coaster. He couldn't help but watch him, even if it made him feel extremely creepy. He was a bit overwhelmed from the suddenness of everything, so he wasn't speaking very much. Janus didn't seem to mind as he conversed with the others.

Virgil could tell the others (and himself, if he was being honest) already adored Janus. With his smooth voice and sharp wit, it was easy to be captivated.

Patton, who was sitting in between Janus and Virgil on the couch, heard Virgil's stomach grumbled once the afternoon started to meld into evening. With all the excitement earlier in the day, Virgil had forgotten to eat lunch and hadn't thought about it until now.

After shoving a granola bar in Virgil's hands, Patton offered to pick up food from a nearby restaurant. Logan went with him, and Virgil graciously let Roman lead the conversation.

"I just prefer the more classic musicals of Broadway," Janus said with a wave of his hand as he reclined into the couch. "Many of the new musicals are too poppy for me."

"Even so, the new ones are so good!" Roman said as he leaned forward in his chair. Virgil himself leaned against the arm of the couch, waiting for a moment he felt comfortable interjecting. "Modern musicals may not have the same charm as the classics, but that doesn't make the music or script any less enjoyable."

"Don't even get me started on the Hollywood takeover of Broadway," Janus said. "I am so tired of these musical adaptations of movies. We need to stop letting film companies take the theatres and give chances to new playwrights and original stories."

"That... you're mostly right on. But the Mean Girls musical has some bops."

Janus opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Roman's phone ringing. By the scowl on Roman's face, Virgil knew he was going to decline, but then Roman hesitated.

"I don't mind if you take the call," Janus assured him. Roman gave him a grateful smile and answered it just before the final ring.

As Roman went to take the call in the bedroom, Virgil tried to quell the anxiety rising in him. It must've been important for Roman to have answered it at this time. Virgil hoped it wasn't an emergency. Maybe it was Remus calling him just to propose another crazy scheme of his - Roman could never ignore his brother. But it also could've been a phone call bearing bad news - Something happened to Remus, or Remy, or Emile, or something else terrible that would warrant Roman to interrupt his time with his new soulmate-

"Are you alright?" Janus asked, snapping Virgil from his spiraling thoughts. Virgil grimaced but gave him a smile anyways.

"Yeah, sorry. Just got lost in thought for a moment."

Janus looked Virgil up and down, making Virgil squirm under his gaze.

"Do I frighten you?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Virgil said. He sighed and turned more towards Janus. "I'm sorry. I just get inside my own head and freak out sometimes. You've been nothing but wonderful this whole time. I'm sor-"

"You don't have to apologize if you're anxious, Virgil," Janus said. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Virgil gaped for a moment. While of course the others accepted his anxiety, it took a bit of a learning curve for them to get used to it. No one had immediately told him before that they didn't mind.

"But I shouldn't be," Virgil eventually huffed, sitting up straighter and just a bit closer to Janus. "We're supposedly made for each other - I know we're going to get along so why does my brain tell me I'm going to mess it up?"

"That's what anxiety does, babe."

Virgil barked out a laugh.

"Yeah, you're right."

"So let me ask again now. Are you alright?"

Virgil thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. For real this time."

Janus opened his arms, and Virgil graciously accepted.

"I'm so happy we found you," Virgil murmured into Janus' chest as Janus wrapped his arms securely around Virgil. "I had been so worried these last few days - worried that we'd never find you again, or that it'd be years-"

"You don't need to worry anymore," Janus said with a smile. "I'm right here where you need me."

The bedroom door opened, and Virgil automatically went to sit up, but Janus gently coaxed him into leaning against his side - not tightly enough to force him, just enough to show him that it's fine, and Virgil reminded himself that neither Janus or Roman would judge him.

Roman smiled when he saw the two of them, but his eyes were heavy and Janus and Virgil frowned.

"Is everything okay?" Virgil asked. "Who called?"

"Yes, everything's fine. Don't worry, my little stormcloud. It was just audition results from the one last week. I didn't make the callback."

"Oh, Roman. I'm so sorry," Virgil said. He sat away from Janus, who moved to encourage him back, but stopped once Virgil waved Roman over. Roman immediately moved to sit between them, laying his head on Virgil's shoulder as Virgil held him and Janus took his hands, running his thumbs over Roman's knuckles.

"You'll make one of them someday. You're so talented." Virgil assured him.

"It's so hard to get started," Roman sighed. "They're more likely to cast people they know, but how are they going to know me if I never get casted?"

"The people that ignore your talents aren't worth your time anyway," Janus said. "If they're more focused on relations rather than talent, that's not a production you want to be associated with."

Roman gave him a weak smile and went to sit up straight.

"Don't let me burden you both with my dilemmas this joyous night," Roman said. "Please, continue telling me about your classes, Janus."

Janus just sighed. "I just told Virgil not to be ashamed of his anxiety. You, Roman, do not need to be ashamed of being disappointed.

"I hate to bother you-"

"You're not bothering me, nor Virgil I'm sure. There's no shame in seeking comfort when you need it," Janus leaned closer to Roman. "I want you to take care of yourself. No bottling up feelings, okay?"

Roman nodded.

"Good."

Janus sat up straight.

"Also, if you'd like, I'd be happy to help you with your monologues and scenes. I myself used to do theatre work."

Roman's face lit up again. "Oh really?"

Janus nodded.

Virgil was almost as happy as Roman to hear it. While of course he and Logan and Patton helped Roman when they could, Virgil knew they weren't exactly the best scene partners to work with.

"I would love that. Is there a chance I could also get you to sing for me, my star?"

It was Janus' turn to blush, and with that Roman seemed to have gained his confidence again as he sat up to tease Janus, who snapped at him in return, but his smile showed it held no real malice.

Virgil rested his chin on Roman's shoulder as the two quipped back and forth. Logan and Patton got back home shortly after. Janus encouraged Roman to tell Logan and Patton what happened over the phone, and two of them took no time to comfort him.

Once dinner was done, Patton was insistent on making Roman's favorite red velvet cupcakes.

"You don't have to put in that trouble for me," Roman had said.

"Your smile is worth it," Patton replied. Roman had gone a deep red and couldn't muster up any further protests.

It was cramped in the kitchen. Virgil was sitting on the counter, mostly just handing utensils to who needed it, while Patton and Janus made batter. Logan had started on frosting while Patton insisted that Roman did need to help - these were for him, after all! So Roman floated from person to person, stealing hugs and kisses where he could get it.

Patton booped some batter onto Janus' nose and kissed it off, which had been too adorable to process.

Virgil watched as Roman made the rounds into Janus' arms. Janus was the only one tall enough to be eye level with Roman. Roman's expression turned from blissed to thoughtful to hesitant. Janus, ever intuitive, knew what he was thinking and leaned in to press a quick, chaste kiss to Roman's lips. Roman's smile grew wide and his cheeks grew red as he rested his forehead on Janus'

Virgil himself could feel his heart swelling with happiness. He watched as Logan and Janus were able to discuss and debate about far more things than the rest of them could understand. Janus and Roman were able to throw clever nicknames at each other, their sharp wits bouncing off the other's. Janus was able to make Patton grow blushy and giggly almost as fast as Roman, using that smooth lilt in his voice to fluster him almost immediately.

Then Janus thought back to their brief time together on the couch - when strong arms held him tightly and grounded him, letting him know that he was safe - and Virgil knew that they were finally complete.

106 notes · View notes

delimeful · 4 years

Text

my virtues uncounted (4)

winner of august’s second monthly fic poll! hope you enjoy!

warnings: antagonist/villain remus, panic, injury, blood, cliffhanger

previous chapters

In the time it took for everyone else to get worked into a panic, Logan had come up with a few theories on why, exactly, their connection with Thomas would be so suddenly muted.

Of course, many of those theories were only useful if they could be proven, and seeing as they had a limited amount of time and space to work with, he could set them aside to figure out the direct, exact cause another time.

For now, the priority was finding their way back home. Once they were able to reconnect with their part of the mindscape, their connection with Thomas would also hopefully repair itself.

“Think of our current status as dealing with some temporary interference,” he told the others. “Once we leave the subconscious, our metaphorical signals should reach Thomas again.”

“‘Should?’” Anxiety asked, looking dubious.

“And how are we to leave when this shadowy scourge is thwarting our every escape attempt?” Roman added, glaring balefully up at Anxiety.

“Hey, you technically haven’t made any escapes yet, so I technically haven’t thwarted anything yet.” Anxiety ignored Roman’s exasperated expression with ease, shrugging. “Schrodinger’s Thwarting.”

“Anxiety, kiddo,” Patton stepped a little closer, pulling them all back on track, “I don’t think we should stay down here for too much longer. It’s not good for us to be disconnected from our rooms like this.”

“And that’s not even mentioning the fact that we don’t know how Thomas is functioning without his core sides connected to him,” Logan added, hoping that the other Side was in a reasonable mood.

Anxiety kept his face neutral, but Logan could see the little crease between his eyebrows and the way he went slightly paler. “It’s still too dangerous to risk without a plan.”

“And with a plan?” Logan pressed.

Anxiety’s shoulders bunched up even further, and for a moment he was worried he’d gone too far, but then the other Side let out an irritated sigh.

“If it’s actually that concerning, and I can more than imagine how it could be, then. I guess. We could try. With a plan,” he emphasized as Patton perked up excitedly. “One that I agree to.”

“That’ll only take us a lifetime,” Roman grumbled, but even he seemed revitalized now that they were getting somewhere.

Logan found himself getting excited as well. “In that case, I need all the information you have on routes to neutral territory and the weather cycles here.”

Anxiety materialized the data into files on a touchscreen phone, which would work quite efficiently as a display considering their size. “Good luck figuring anything out. This end of the mindscape is way more… chaotic. Stuff’s always changing.”

“I don’t mind a challenge,” Logan reassured him, and then set to work making spreadsheets and comparing trends. It was almost soothing.

In the background, he could hear Patton asking about who they were most likely to encounter if they attempted to beeline for the neutral zone, and Roman bartering for possession of his sword back. (The trade seemed to be settling on Anxiety handing over the sword in exchange for no stabbing and no nicknames for a week. Roman was perhaps more reluctant to stop generating witty quips than necessary.)

As Logan suspected, when Anxiety didn’t feel implicitly threatened by them, he was much more open. Though, that might have also been the exposure to Patton’s determined friendliness, which Anxiety seemed to eye with the wariness of a stray cat. He’d have to bring this up the next time they had a debate about the effectiveness of so many of Thomas’s Sides being hidden away.

Now wasn't the time for that, however. Now was the time for action, as Roman liked to proclaim.

“I’ve found the best path for us to take,” he announced, drawing all eyes to him.

Probably no time for an illustrative powerpoint to demonstrate how he’d come to this conclusion. Perhaps later. A summary of the plan would do fine.

Roman and Patton glanced up at the large side frequently, but Anxiety listened with a critical attentiveness that Logan found himself appreciating. At the end, his brow was furrowed, but he didn’t seem fully decided one way or the other.

“This plan will only work in our current time frame,” Logan cautioned. “As you said, the landscape of this place is always shifting, so we need to take advantage of the patterns that we can. I expect getting lost would not end well.”

Anxiety nodded, and then seemed to come to a decision.

“If you’re certain that it’s the best time… Fine, I’ll believe you.” Anxiety grumped, his body language already displaying several signs that he was growing nervous at the idea.

Logan blinked once, genuinely surprised that he had convinced the other Side, before regaining his composure. No time to be touched by Anxiety’s apparent faith in him. “All the data I reviewed points to this being the best opportunity.”

“One condition,” Anxiety said, holding up a finger. “If it seems like the plan has failed and things get dangerous, our backup plan is giving me access so I can rise up.”

Roman raised a sharp eyebrow, his sword once again sheathed at his side. “I seem to distinctly recall you freaking out about that idea?”

Anxiety made a face at him. “Yeah, and I’ll continue to not like it, but if it keeps you losers from getting discorporated, I’ll deal. Do you guys agree or not?”

Logan traded looks with the other two, and then nodded. “It’s a reasonable backup plan.”

“Sure,” Anxiety snorted, and then hesitated for a moment before reaching out and placing his uninjured hand palm up on the table next to them.

Patton plopped himself down immediately, but Roman wasn’t as eager.

“I am not going back in your pocket,” Roman told him, unimpressed. “Lint on my outfit is a no-no, let alone giant lint.”

“Your outfit is already ruined,” Anxiety snapped back, rolling his eyes. The blood on the white outfit somewhat resembled a candy cane.

Logan raised a hand to interject before it could become an argument. “If I may suggest, your hood seems like it would both give us more space and allow for a vantage point to watch your back.”

“I can watch my own back,” Anxiety growled, and then sighed. “Just don’t fall out.”

He was exceedingly careful as he reached behind him to the hood of his jacket, and the three of them had no problem getting in, though they did end up knocking a few limbs against each other in the process.

As Logan expected, it was much easier to grip the folds of the hoodie fabric and looking over the edge of it gave them a vertigo-inducing view.

“Okay,” Anxiety said, sounding as though he was speaking more to himself than them. “Let’s do this. It’s probably going to crash and burn horribly, but whatever.”

“Remind me to speak with you about cognitive distortions later,” Logan mused.

From where he was peeking over Virgil’s shoulder, Patton cheered. “Woohoo, you can do it!”

“With our talents to help, we can’t fail,” Roman added, making some sort of dramatic flourish that Anxiety couldn't even see. “Onwards!”

“What am I, a horse?” Anxiety shot back, and then firmed his shoulders slightly and stepped to his door. “Remember, low in the hoodie so you aren’t seen.”

After receiving a chorus of agreements, he took an audible breath and stepped through the door.

The hoodie bounced slightly against his back with every step, but nothing too jarring. Logan resisted the completely illogical urge to hold his breath as they descended the creaking stairs.

After a long moment, Anxiety’s shoulders lowered slightly. “Nobody’s down here.”

He picked his way carefully through the living area, until they were back where they started, at that huge, weathered front door. It seemed much less insurmountable from Anxiety’s eye level. The other Side grabbed the knob and pushed it open, stepping over the threshold.

They all let out a breath of relief.

From there, Logan’s attention was consumed with providing directions in a low mutter, carefully navigating their way through the shifting, fog-covered landscape. Patton occasionally pointed out a distant landmark he maybe recognized, mostly unhelpfully.

Still, all factors considered, they made it a fair distance before things went wrong.

Anxiety had just taken the first step over a wooden bridge when the hair-raising cackle split the air behind them. At Logan’s side, Roman latched onto his wrist with an iron grip.

Anxiety held still for a moment longer before turning around, his hands tucked into his pockets in a faux gesture of casualness. “Remus. I thought silently stalking people in the dead of night was too subtle for you?”

There was an unpleasant crack of bone that made Logan glad he couldn’t see Remus. “Wouldn’t want to scare the little emo and his little uninvited stowaways off, would I?”

The three of them exchanged panicked looks. He knew?

Anxiety took a step back, hissing in frustration. “Are you the reason they’re like this? Or Dee?”

Another cackle. “The enchantment was all me! Double D would ruin my fun if he knew. But you’re no spoilsport! I can already feel all the exciting new additions to this game you’re thinking up in that squishy grey matter of yours. We can have a little fun together! Whaddya say?”

Anxiety took another step back, his back twitching with the urge to turn and flee. “Remus. C’mon. Think about Thomas.”

The atmosphere suddenly darkened, sending a chill down Logan’s spine.

“Maybe he’s the one who should be thinking about us,” Remus said, the grin in his voice suddenly much more menacing. “I know you’re tired of being ignored, Anxiety. You’re just as sick of our snakey friend’s interference as I am. Without them, there will be space for us!”

“Thomas needs them,” Anxiety urged, his rough voice a sharp contrast to Remus’s singsong encouragement.

“Puh-lease, we’re not taking them away forever! The Core Bores are like cockroaches; you just can’t get rid of ‘em, even when you crush their little heads.” A thoughtful pause. “They’re just about cockroach-sized now, too!”

Roman’s grip grew painfully tight.

Anxiety shook his head, jostling them slightly, and then began to slowly back across the bridge. The tension in him seemed to scream that he wanted to turn tail and flee, give into his flight instinct. But he couldn’t turn without putting them directly in Remus’s line of sight.

“Don’t be so antsy! I know you want to be noticed as bad as I do,” Remus advanced with slow, predatory steps.

Anxiety was too far from the other end of the bridge. He’d be caught.

Logan made pointed eye contact with the others, and held his free hand out, palm down.

“What I want doesn’t matter here. It’s too risky! It’s. Not. Happening.” They were stepping faster now, the noise overlapping.

Patton nodded once, placing his own hand on top. They both looked to Roman.

“Aw, that’s what I never got about you, emo. You’re always too scared to jump in and grab the bull by the horns! A little goring can be its own kind of fun, y’know.”

Roman’s expression finally turned certain, and he slammed his own hand down, completing the stack.

All of them felt it when the balance shifted, and there was a heartbeat of stillness before everything erupted.

Anxiety turned on his heel and bolted, seconds before a manic, ear-splitting scream split the air from behind them.

“YOU’RE LEAVING US!”

“Rise up!” Roman screeched, clinging to the hood’s fabric for dear life. “Rise up!”

“I don’t know how!” Anxiety yelled back, ducking and weaving through the fog-filled forest that had formed around them. “I’m trying to— it’s not the same as just appearing!”

“You have to stay in one spot and focus,” Patton said, trying hard to keep his voice calm. “You can do this!”

Anxiety came to a standstill, and for a few breathless seconds, they waited.

“It’s… it’s not working!”

“Try and focus on where you want to appear. Let yourself rise, don’t try to control it—“ Logan caught a flicker of movement behind them. “Watch out!”

Anxiety twisted out of the way, a double headed axe thunking into the trunk of a nearby tree. He clenched his fists, closing his eyes tightly, and Logan finally felt the familiar sensation of their part of the mindscape dropping into place around them.

He caught one last glimpse of Remus, body twisted into a throwing gesture and gaze almost shocked, before the scene changed to their living room.

Anxiety staggered, face pale, and the lot of them ended up sprawled over the length of the staircase, ungraceful but undoubtedly home and the right size once more.

A moment spent catching their breath, and then.

“We made it!” Patton yelled, voice cracking in relief as he threw his arms out, laid out on his back.

From the carpeted landing he was still facedown on, Roman grunted an exhausted affirmation.

“It was a close call,” Logan said, pushing himself up and dusting his tie off. “We’ll need to take precautions for the future.”

“Good thing we have Anxiety!” Patton said brightly. “He’s an expert at precautionary measures!”

“As long as he doesn’t precaution Thomas into never going outside again,” Roman muttered, with no real aggression to his tone. He seemed just as glad that Anxiety had gotten them all out of there, if not more.

Anxiety didn’t rise to the bait. Logan turned to thank the other Side properly, and was met with the sight of him curled in over himself, a hunched over ball of hoodie. “... Anxiety?”

With a hoarse cry of pain, the Side yanked something from his side. A comically oversized throwing knife, drenched in a slick coating—

“Oh,” Anxiety said in a small voice, struggling to stem the bloodflow from the stab wound in his torso. “Shit.”

Within seconds, a dark stain began to spread, and Logan immediately lurched forwards, trying to seal the wound, erase it, even just put enough pressure on it to clot the bleeding—

Anxiety inhaled sharply. Nothing about the nature of the wound changed. It wasn’t healing. Logan’s hands were covered in warm-wet-red and nothing was healing.

Past the ringing in his ears, he could hear the others yelling behind him, trying to accelerate Anxiety’s integration into the conscious mind.

All he could focus on was Anxiety’s face, tight with pain and resignation.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, the hitch in his voice betraying him. “We can’t die. It’s fine. Can you— Can you feel Thomas?”

Logan nodded stitedly. The connection was faint, but growing stronger.

Anxiety nodded once, sharply. “Good. That’s— That’s all that matters.”

Then, like the question had been all that was keeping him awake, he went limp like a puppet with strings cut.

#sanders sides #tss #g/t #ts virgil #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts remus #villain remus #not unsympth though #writing #my writing #mvu #my virtues uncounted #angst #this might count as whump #mind the warnings

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joyrose-fandomer · 3 years

Text

Music club AU Chap2 (Sanders sides Human AU)

TL;DR: What if you just wanted to play music in peace but the autor sayed “chaos twins :)”

POV: Virgil

Relationship: Creativitwins, Prinxiety, Logicality parent to Virgil, (later in the story) Dukceit.

TW: Play fighting

<<Previous Next>>

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God loves to mess with little old Virgil, do they?

The teenager just wanted to play music and have a good time, for ONCE!

But nooo, couldn't have that did he?

Virgil just opened the door to the classroom where the music club took place, standing at the threshold, staring at not one but both of yesterday's idiots staring back at him from their seat in the classroom.

He closed back the door. A laugh exploded inside the room followed by rushed footsteps.

Virgil practically ran through the corridor and was at the other side of it when someone flew the door of the classroom open and yelled.

"WAIT, COME BACK!"

It was a good thing that it was lunchtime and everyone was out, eating because Virgil would not have been able to handle the embarrassment.

The guy took the chance to run through the corridor while Virgil was still stunned.

He reached him breathless.

"Wait... don't go.... just...one second" He took a few deep breaths "Alright... Let's start again."

The tall boy corrected his posture and fashed a 100-watt smile.

"Hi. I'm Roman. And you are?"

Virgil looks at the hand his schoolmate was extending to him like it was going to electrocute him. Wich he was seriously considering could happend.

The unconvinced emo took a long look up and down the dramatic boy who was growing more uncomfortable and nervous every second.

He was a head taller than Virgil, His hair where a stylish mess, he was wearing an outfit stolen straight up from a model magazine and not to be gay but he was so jacked that Virgil could see his pecks from under his shirt.

"Sooo..." The much to jacked teen continued when he saw that Virgil was not going to answer "Should I be worried by this elevator look or..." He left the end of the sentence hanging in the hope that Virgil would tell him something, anything.

But he simply rose an eyebrow.

Roman finally let his arm fall to his side, starting to be tired of holding it up for so long.

"Look. I got it. Using you for a challenge was not cool. I'm dumb and my brother is even dumber.

But still, give me chance. I really want to get to know you. So, how about we get back to the classroom before the teacher arrives and you can decide my fate after?

Please?"

His dramatic schoolmate had quickly shot the sentences one after the other, making big movements to accentuate his point.

Alright, Virgil was starting to get second-hand anxiety from this interaction, let's just go back to the classroom and get it over with.

He sighed and reluctantly got past the nervous mess in front of him to make his way back down the corridor, causing a disbelieving grin to appear on the face of the other boy who started trotting behind him.

If only he knew that he just threw out the window his only chance at peace for that smile.

Once in the classroom, Virgil was immediately greeted by a whistle coming from the other member of the dumb duo who was now sprawled over two chairs and tables. His hair was partially white and his outfit looked like he stoled Roman's close and made them voluntarily look as terrible as possible.

Virgil looked back at Roman who was joining his own hands together over his mouth, silently praying to Virgil to not back out.

Puppy eyes had always been the emo's weakness, his dad used them constantly against him, so when a pretty face was giving him those hopeful eyes he was unable to refuse.

He reluctantly walked into the classroom only to realize that the only seat left was the one right in front of the brothers that none took due to being the closest to the teacher.

Great.

"Wow, Ro! I can't believe you managed to get him to stay, that's a new record!"

Roman's brother claimed, throwing his arms for emphasizes and almost hitting Virgil in the process.

"Not thank's to you. Now scout over I wants my sit."

"Make me"

The strange twin challenged with a smirk. A challenge that was apparently accepted immediately judging by the wicked smile appearing on the face of the other twin.

"Gladly"

The dramatic boy took the ankles of the chaotic one and all but dragged him to the floor, getting a laugh out of his brother. Everyone was looking at them like they were insane and Virgil couldn't agree more.

Roman sunk in his sit, behind Virgil, completely unbothered by the chorus of confused laughter from the other students.

This was the scene playing when the teacher entered the classroom. Everyone when as silent as possible, a few of them had to hold their laughter with their hands. The embodiment of chaos looked up from his spot on the ground with an innocent smile.

The teacher took silently a sip of his coffee and walked past the teenager to reach the front of the room before sitting on his desk.

"Sup, everyone. Glad to see a lot of familiar faces. For those who don't know me, the name's Remy. I'm a music teacher and I'll babysit you all an hour every week for this club. You're welcome."

At the word 'babysit' he looked through his sunglasses at the trouble maker who was sitting back on his chair.

It took barely a look to know which student already knew the men, smiling and snickering like it was their wired uncle or big brother. And the ones who discovered the strange character, blinking and staring in confusion.

Two girls started whispering to each other a few rows behind, causing the teacher to snap his fingers to get their attention.

"Sorry, Sir! We were just wondering if Remy was your last name"

One of the girls quickly apologized.

"Don't sir me and no, that's my first name. My name is Dorme. Any other question?"

After a silence, he continued.

"Good. So I'm going to take the same call from last year and cross out everyone we lost during the summer break. Toby!"

Someone with orange hair and a skeleton hoody rose their hand.

"Hi Toby, last year right? Think you can go to the club and study at the same time?"

"No problem, Remy"

Remy nodded and looked back at his list.

"Amely!"

A tall girl with a flowery dress rose her hand from the back of the class.

"Hey girl, how's the transition going? Want to stay with the altos or do you want to try and go soprano?"

"It's going great but I'd like to stay alto if possible"

"Of course. Next, Mike!"

There was no answer so he crossed them out. It continued like that for a few more minutes before he put the list down and took an empty paper.

"Ok, now time to cheek the newbies. Just say your name, pronoun, and any instrument you can play. We start from the front and make our way back from left to right."

Meaning Virgil was first. Too much pressure.

He looked up at the teacher who was waiting for him to speak. Everyone was looking at him it was awful. He went to say his name but his voice refused to cooperate.

The teacher handed him the empty sheet where the anxious boy wrote 'Virgil Adams, he/him, base'

"Quick question, do you think you'll be able to sing or-" Mr. Dorme posed mid-sentence when he looked at the paper. "Never mind. Steve, good news, we have a base. You can play the guitar now!"

Steve, a boy with a plaid shirt and dark curly hair, made a 'woohoo!' of victory.

Remy looked back at Virgil.

"Don't worry about singing if you don't feel like it. Want to start tuning the base?"

The high schooler noded quickly and practically ran to the back of the classroom where Nat, one of the older students showed him where the material was.

The teacher called for the next student to introduce themself.

There was a noise of a chair being pushed back followed by an obnoxious voice.

"Greetings! I'm Roman Poquelin, he/him, and I can play any string and wind instrument except the base, the violoncello, and, god forbid, the kazoo."

"The kazoo is great! You don't know what you're talking about!"

The other twin defended

"The kazoo is an atrocity made by people with no taste!"

"You just hate fun!"

"This is not fun it's torture!"

Remy intervened before the kazoo debate blows up to far.

"That's enough you two, Roman sit down. Next."

"Remus Poquelin, he/them, I play every percussion as well as the trombone, accordion, bagpipe, otamatone, and KAZOO"

The chaotic twin insisted on the word 'kazoo' just the get a reaction from his brother who growled at him.

"Hey, that makes two Rems!" Toby yelled.

"You're right one of us got to change their name it ain't me" Remy added with a joking tone.

Remus thought about it for a moment before screaming proudly "DUKE!"

There was a confused silence cute only by a little "what?" from Steve.

Remus anwserd with a big dramatic mouvement.

"Everyone! Call me duke, or duky, or D or Di-"

"We are not calling you that." Roman interrupted with a tired sigh.

Virgil was starting to wonder if they were going to always be like that because it was starting to be exhausting.

Remy probably thought the same since he downed all his coffee before pushing on with the rest of the introductions.

Luckily there were only the two girls left who didn't make a scene out of it. Named Branda and Harley. Two sopranos, none playing any instrument.

Steve had joined Virgil with his guitar and they waited for Remy to explain the year's program.

Apparently, he had planed a few small concerts around the school during the year and 3 big ones including a competition interschool, and two concerts not taken in charge by the school as extra scholar activity.

That made a lot of concerts, and no matter how much Virgil liked to play, he still hated being under the spotlight.

They then made some vocal exercises and while everyone was reading the lyric of the song they were going to work on today, Remy explains how to play the song to Virgil, Steve, and Remus who got asked to play the drums.

The song was rather simple and except for Virgil, everyone was singing. They had to start again multiple times due to Remus somehow managing to never sing the note right while still playing the drums perfectly.

"Remus, can you sing me a 'la'?" Mr. Remy asked probably starting to wonder if he was doing it voluntarily.

Remus sang a 'mi'

"Try again?"

a 're'

"No, that's worst. Again?"

a 'si'

"Ok, you're just messing with me now" The teacher sighed

Roman rose his hand.

"He's not messing with you. He actually can't do it.

He knows what note your asking of him he just can't sing it, but he can still play."

The music teacher looked confused at that.

"Do you want to be exempted from singing little duke?"

He got answered with a big nod.

So now they were two not singing.

On the other hand, Roman grew more and more comfortable with the song and his dramatic personality slowly took over until they riched the last song and he couldn't help but hold the last note for almost a full minute.

Virgil and Steve had stopped playing by now but Remus kept a drum roll for his brother with a straight face, apparently knowing that it was going to happen.

When Roman finished the bassist exchanged a look with the drumer and somehow he just knew they were thinking the same thing.

Remus grinned and suddenly they were both laughing.

Nate joined in, hiding his face in his jacket, then Remy, Amely, and in seconds everyone was laughing, Roman included.

The bell rang. Warning them that it was time to go back to class.

While cleaning everything up Virgil heard Branda comment.

"It's going to be a weird year"

Never, truer words had been said.

***<>========<>***

(Virgil : Not to be gay but *proceed to be very gay*) XD

#sanders sides #sanders sides AU #Sander side fic #roman sanders #remus sanders #virgil sanders #remy sanders #prinxiety #creativitwins

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