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Janus wanted to pace. It had been nearly a week, and Remus was still- wrong. Off. He was trying to hide it, but there was a reason Janus was the liar between the two of them. He’d been avoiding his room, for one thing. Sleeping in the halls and crawlspaces of the larger mindscape, hovering around Janus wherever he went. There were moments when he’d go strangely silent, eyes focusing on some point in the distance. Then there was the obvious.
One more time.
‘Make me an apple. Grotesque as you like.’ Remus sat at their little table- Actually sat, and wasn’t that concerning- As Janus crossed his arms. Remus had been trying to summon something, anything, for nearly an hour. Had stayed in one place for that long. It was disquieting.
Remus raised a hand, concentration written across his features. Something vaguely round hazed in and out of existence, like a cheap sci-fi hologram effect. For a moment, it glowed red, and Janus let himself hope. Then Remus gasped, image vanishing as he drew his hand back like he’d been burned. Or shocked.
‘I can’t do it.’ He sounded afraid. Janus had started this fool’s errand because Remus was upset by his brother’s comment- As dramatic and goading as he’d come to expect, but he hadn’t thought about how Remus might react- yet it didn’t seem to be helping any. Far from feeling grounded, his friend was only getting more agitated as they went.
Remus couldn’t summon. Couldn’t draw, write, or even come up with disgustingly imaginative innuendos. He couldn’t create.
‘Okay. This is fine.’ Janus refused to pace. Even if staying still made him feel like he was being watched, being scrutinized, he wasn’t going to display weakness. Why couldn’t Remus do his job? It had to be because of Virgil. But that didn’t make any sense. If sides could just turn each other off, Patton would have done it to the dark sides years ago and been done with it. Yet somehow Virgil had managed to lock Remus out of his own function? ‘This is fine. We’ll just avoid the others until you- until later.’
Remus bit his nails, contemplative. ‘What if they want us for a video?’ That was… a good question. It had been happening more and more, and Remus wasn’t being subtle about his low mood. In the (unlikely) scenario where only Remus was summoned, Janus could easily replace him to keep up appearances. Make a few off-colour jokes, flirt with Logan, needle Virgil, easy. If both of them were summoned, though… even he couldn’t be in two places at once. Janus tried to answer with confidence he didn’t feel.
‘Just act normal, and stay near me. I can help with any props you need.’ That got a snort of laughter from the Duke. ‘You’re gonna summon props? This plan sucks more than a… uh. A thing that sucks.’ He finished lamely, smile dropping. Janus frowned.
‘I can summon jussst fine, if I need to.’ It just so happened that he rarely needed to. Normally he’d just get Remus to make whatever he needed, instead of negotiating with all the fiddly moving parts of summoning something himself.
‘Oh yeah? Make me an apple.’ Remus challenged, and Janus narrowed his eyes as he snapped his fingers. A shiny green apple appeared on the table. ‘There. Happy?’ Apparently not, because Remus pulled a knife from some hidden pocket and impaled the apple with it. The blade sank in about a centimetre, before hitting something hard. Janus looked away as Remus peeled off the styrofoam skin of the apple, revealing a solid round chunk of cement in the centre.
‘Wow, so realistic.’ Remus deadpanned, tossing the concrete ball at him. Janus caught it with a hiss, embarrassed. ‘Well, either get it together, or work with what we have.’
Janus wanted to pace. He contented himself with stalking back to his room, leaving Remus to sulk.
—
Logan flicked the kitchen light on absentmindedly. The script was nearly done- Roman was supposedly doing the final touches. Logan had some time before he was finished; he could have a break, eat something, then start figuring out filming logistics. They needed to be outdoors for most of the video, so at least they didn’t need to budget for a rental space-
A leg was dangling in front of him. Logan jumped a little, and looked up to see Virgil sitting on top of the fridge, eating a bag of chips. Unhealthy, he thought, but didn’t say it. If Virgil was finding strange places to perch, it probably meant he was upset. He wouldn’t appreciate Logan commenting on his snack choices.
‘Good evening, Virgil. Would you mind letting me access the fridge?’ Virgil pulled his leg up, wordlessly crossing it beneath him. Logan could feel his friend watching him as he pulled a jar of Crofters out, placing bread into the toaster and setting it for four minutes.
‘Have you seen the others, uh, recently?’ Virgil asked, catching Logan’s attention. His tone gave him an inkling which “others” he was referring to, but it was good to specify. ‘Janus and Remus, you mean?’ An affirmative nod. ‘Not lately, no. Why do you ask?’ Janus had stopped by Logan’s room the week before to drop off a few notes pertaining to his self care regime, but he hadn’t lingered. It wasn’t unusual- in the past, they’d gone months without having any meaningful interactions with the Dark Sides. That had changed in recent years, obviously, but it was often still weeks between seeing the less well-received sides around the mindscape.
‘I just… need to talk to them.’ Came the hesitant non-answer. The toast popped up, and Logan spread jam over the slices with deliberate care. Virgil wanted to interact with his former- friends? Roommates? It was unclear exactly what his relationship with the others had been, and none of them seemed eager to explain.
‘May I ask why?’ Logan chose his tone carefully. He didn’t want to pry, but neither did he want Virgil to feel as if he lacked support.
‘Last week, there was this whole thing-’ Virgil started, then paused. He climbed down from the top of the fridge and settled on the counter instead, so he was at eye level with Logan. ‘Sorry, it felt weird. Talking down at you, literally.’ He fiddled with his empty chip bag. ‘Anyway, Remus was messing with Patton, and I kinda went off on him.’ Logan nodded slowly, admittedly confused. Virgil- anyone- getting angry with the Duke was no surprise. His entire existence seemed to be in service to upsetting as many people as he could. The only side who seemed to have any sort of handle on his erratic behaviour was Janus, who wasn’t exactly helpful. No, the strange part was the unspoken implication that Remus had been in any way affected by Virgil snapping at him. Perhaps his friend was simply overthinking the interaction?
‘So you intend to apologise? I doubt Remus was hurt by anything you may have said.’ Logan said mildly, and Virgil bit his lip. ‘It’s not what I said, it’s…’ He started to tear the chip bag into pieces. Logan let him.
‘There’s this- thing I can do. Where I kind of pour fear into someone else. It’s like being in my room, I guess, but times like- a hundred. All at once.’ Logan’s brow pinched. ‘I don’t like doing it.’ Virgil added in a defensive mutter.
‘Am I right in assuming you did this to Remus?’ Logan asked, and Virgil nodded. Well, that explained why Virgil was upset, at least. He had a hard time believing there was anything the Duke was afraid of, for Virgil’s ability to take root in the first place, but they likely wouldn’t be having such a conversation if that were true.
‘Deceit got in between us pretty fast. He, uh, knew what I was doing. They left pretty quick after that, but then the other day Roman and I were in the kitchen, and those two showed up looking for tea stuff.’ Virgil paused, cringing at the word tea in a way that made Logan wonder what exactly the pair had been after. ‘Janus was pretty normal- for him anyway- but Remus…’ He trailed off. The chip bag was doing an admirable impression of confetti. ‘I’ve never seen him like that.’
Virgil didn’t seem inclined to explain further. Logan chewed his toast, considering his friend’s story. ‘How many times have you done this?’ He asked eventually. ‘One other time, I think.’ Virgil replied, sounding unsure. Memory was strange for Sides, so Logan didn’t question it. He himself hadn’t remembered either Remus or Janus’ existence until they’d revealed themselves to Thomas, despite the fact that he’d known them both when Thomas was young. Repression had simply fogged over his memories of them.
‘How did the situation resolve itself then?’ It made a difference, whether Virgil’s influence had dissipated over time, or if there had been any intervention needed.
‘Um. I don’t know.’ Logan raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘I didn’t really stick around to find out.’ Virgil explained, hesitating before adding, ‘It was Janus. I didn’t see him again until he got caught pretending to be Pat.’ Ah. Things were starting to add up.
‘I think this may call for a group discussion.’ Logan said slowly, finishing his toast and brushing the crumbs from his hands. Logistics and budgeting would have to wait, it seemed.