Vee, even if you do not want to see everyone when they come back, there is a note that Patton has that is for you from Ian. It seems important.
As he detaches himself from Remus’s back (and lets Janus snuggle into his side, complaining softly about the loss of his heat source,) Virgil hears the others stirring around the room. Patton wakes first, and excitedly stirs Logan and Ainsliee awake once he gets a look at Roman.
Roman seems to jolt when Virgil bites Remus, but rouses more slowly than his brother. Virgil watches the two closely for a moment, wondering if Roman can always sense when someone around his sleeping self is being injured.
Now that Roman’s hair has suddenly grown to match his older brother’s, Virgil can see what everyone means about the twins looking similar. They mirror each other now, in the way their eyes seem glazed over at first, and they slowly become aware of their surroundings. They sit up and look around without really seeing, not yet awake enough to stand or use their arms. It’s strange, and kinda cute, but it does make Virgil worry about their ability to protect themselves if they’re attacked in the night. Virgil knows from experience that Remus can absorb some spare damage, but the same can’t be said for Roman…
Roman yawns, and Virgil watches his long, bear-like fangs shrink back to their usual shape while he does. Strange.
He isn’t sure how Roman managed to morph back without disturbing anyone, considering they were all either laying on him or wrapped up in his arms, but he’s glad it went smoothly; the lack of a fuss hopefully implies that the process wasn’t painful. And, at least only one person saw him before he was covered. Virgil hopes Roman doesn’t mind that it was him, not Remus.
(He conducted a gentle examination of Roman’s wounds while he was dressing him, more by accident than anything else. Virgil could feel the pain under his fingers as he maneuvered the larger man around; It doesn’t show on his skin, but he seems to have some bruising consistent with the places where the Bear had been injured, and his breathing was somewhat labored. He is going to need to rest, and possibly some arcane healing to help the process. Virgil has no idea how that sort of wound-transfer-between-forms works…)
Before he’s even finished “rebooting,” (as Remus always called it,) Annie barrels into Roman’s chest, on the edge of tears.
“Roman, your hair!” Patton squeals, still cooing over how quickly he fell into comforting Annie. One arm still around his fae daughter, Roman blushes and rubs the back of his neck, feeling out the new length of his hair as he does.
“Ah, my apologies, friends! I must look so unkempt right now…” He sighs, embarrassed and still sounding exhausted. Patton shakes his head, still wearing that sparkling grin,
“No, you look great!!”
“You look like me!” Remus laughs, scooting over next to Roman and slinging his arm over his shoulder to shake him, “Look, we’re twins again~! Well, except for that bird’s nest of a beard.”
“I didn’t make it like this on purpose! Give me a minute to get dressed, will you?” Roman scoffs back, shrinking away from his brother. He tries not to think about whatever his hair looks like right now.
(Speaking of getting dressed, what in the world am I wearing? Roman wonders to himself, looking over the strange robe and oversized pants he’s been dressed in.)
(He can’t help but notice that Virgil is refusing to look him in the eyes, but he assumes that’s nothing more than the same reason he’s been avoiding him all week…)
Roman scratches through his new beard, silently yearning for access to a mirror and something to trim with, but he’ll put that aside for now. Logan’s got that serious look on his face again, which means he’s about to bring up something important.
Remus, oblivious to or uncaring about Logan’s expression, just shrugs.
“Whatever you say. One of us is gonna have to change!” Remus twirls his long moustache, “Ehh, it’s been a while since I’ve done something new. I’ll figure it out~ Tonight is Liar’s Night, after all!”
“Oooh, that’s right!” Patton smiles, still bursting with excitement. Logan holds up a hand,
“Hold on. Before any of that, we have some things to discuss,” He adjusts his glasses, glancing around the room, “First, there are our new companions.”
“We’ll accompany you to the city, and most likely a bit farther than that.” Janus smiles cooly, fixing the hair sticking out under his hat. He’s leaning against Virgil’s side, oddly comfortable lounging against the angry-looking dark elf. Virgil doesn’t seem to be bothered by him either, to the general confusion of his current party.
“Ro and I have business with the Big Lady, so you aren’t getting rid of us anytime soon.” Remus grins, still squeezing Roman’s shoulders uncomfortably. “And, there’s the whole thing with Virgie.”
“You’ve met?” Logan asks, though it’s clearly a formality. An opportunity for them to explain. Virgil seems to sink a bit farther into his hood while identical smirks break out on the new couple’s faces.
“You could say so.” Janus hums, sending Virgil a smirk over his shoulder. Virgil scoffs at him, but doesn’t argue. (For Logan and the others, the lack of returning snark is starting to become concerning.)
“Oh, we go way back~!” Remus smiles, not as hesitant to share details as his companions. “I mean, I knew Virgie back when he was still kickin’ ass in the Underworld!”
Just then, a few answering whispers chime in as well,
Roman, Patton, and Logan stare wide-eyed at Virgil, who stutters and blushes.
“I didn’t know you could get that high!” Patton gasps, some mix of impressed and concerned.
“Uhh— I mean,” Virgil stumbles, drawn tense as a bowstring. His eyes flash yellow and he draws into himself slightly, cursing under his breath at the spirits,
“Goddamnit, stop talking about me!”
“He’s not the only one hiding things~” Janus speaks softly, reaching over to lay his hand over Virgil’s knee. He gestures to his own chest with his other hand, stealing the group’s attention with a flourish of dandelion-yellow gloves.
“I hear you are in need of a sorcerer? Well, now you have one.”
“You said you were a wizard…?” Patton frowns, more of an accusation than a question. Janus shrugs with a chuckle,
“And people lie sometimes, dear. I try my best not to — the gentleman that I am~ — but you know how rare sorcerers are these days! I’d rather not become some archivist’s latest science experiment.”
He hisses his last two words a bit sharply, sending a subtle glare in Logan’s direction. Suspecting that no one else caught on to the slight dig, (he loves his companions dearly, but Logan will be the first to admit that they are dense) the bard keeps his mouth shut.
“Well, then, it seems like we will be spending quite a lot of time together.” Logan subtly snaps back, hoping Patton and Virgil don’t notice him getting a little catty. He clears his throat and continues,
“So, we have our destination and an alliance. We should inform you of the dangers we will face on this trip,”
“Don’t bother, Virgil already let us know~” Janus soothes, smiling again. “The three of us are no strangers to dangerous circumstances. Based on our first day working together, I’m sure the most trouble you’ll get from us is how well you three can keep up.”
“Ohoho~! I appreciate the challenge!” Roman grins, as hot-spirited as ever. Bless that poor fool — Logan was losing his patience.
“Very well. In that case, we only have three more topics to discuss,” Logan pulls out his notebook to make sure he hasn’t missed anything,
“What we plan to do about Roman’s curse, the letter Patton received from Ian, and, apparently, Virgil’s much-more-intense-than-implied case of understimulation.”
“I’m fi—” Virgil clears his throat suddenly, then shakes his head, sounding a bit like he’s swallowed a rock, “We don’t have to talk about me, the other two things sound more important!”
“I don’t think there’s much we can do about my new…skill.” Roman shrugs, smiling, “I’m sure my Mother could cure it, once we reach her! Until then, I just have to attempt to keep myself under control. I’m honestly more worried about whatever that ‘understimulation’ thing you talked about is doing to Vi—”
“Unacceptable answer. We should be doing as much research as we can into a cure in the interim.” Logan states matter-of-factly. Roman huffs, quick to retort, but Patton cuts him off.
“You saw the note?” Patton blinks, “We were so careful when he passed it off!”
“And you have been sneaking peeks at it every few hours in the meantime. His handwriting is quite distinct, and it seems to be marked as a warning.” Logan smirks, quite pleased to have an opportunity to exercise his limited knowledge of hidden symbols. Virgil’s eyes flash red, and he hunches forward,
“What does it say?!”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t be able to decipher it on my own, my thieves cant isn’t quite excellent.” Logan admits reluctantly, “Would you be able to decipher it?”
“Yeah. Hand it over,”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Patton shakes his head resolutely, gesturing to Virgil and Roman’s wounds, “We had a very busy and scary last few days, and I am not letting you get your hands on any more worry material until we’ve had some time to rest! You are going to relax.”
“What? What if it’s important!” Virgil hisses, already working himself up with imagined possibilities, “We could already be in danger!”
“I doubt any of us are in danger here, Virgil.” Janus sooths, though his tone is not very comforting.
“We are currently in a hidden city in the Feywild, surrounded by warriors and priestesses. If Ian’s letter is a warning about some incoming danger, I highly doubt it will reach us here.” Logan agrees softly, trying to keep Virgil calm.
“It’s better to be prepared,” Virgil bites back, still reluctant to let things lie. Roman clears his throat, trying his best to smile convincingly at the boy who still refuses to glance in is direction,
“And we will be, before we leave~ But we’re in no rush to go anywhere today. There’s a party tonight!”
“It’s a holiday, we should all have some fun together!” Patton grins, eyes sparkling as he looks around at his friends.
Virgil is starting to feel thoroughly outnumbered. He glares over his shoulder at Remus, prompting him to help, but the barbarian only shakes his head.
“Sorry, Virge! They have a point. And you know how much I’m loath to miss a party!”
“You aren’t getting your hands on that letter until tomorrow, my love.” Janus flashes him a subtle grin, (both of them oblivious to the returning confused looks from Roman, Logan, and Patton,)
“And the more you worry yourself about it, the longer today will be.”
Virgil feels a tug on his robe, and he already knows what’s waiting for him. Resigning himself to his fate, he looks down at Annie, who is giving him some of the sweetest pleading-eyes he has ever seen.
Virgil curses under his breath. The others he could have denied, but the combination of Annie and Patton’s cute faces is something lethal.
He throws his hands up angrily, momentarily dislodging Janus from his side.
“Fine! But the second the party’s over, I’m getting that fucking note.” Virgil growls through the other’s cheers, glaring holes into the floor,
“If anything happens to us between now and midnight, it’s on you fucker’s hands!”
Ask 120 (( @amazonprimebox , @springnight8704 , @coyboi300 ))
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Game Start
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Rules
Most Recent Recap, in case you feel like you missed something!
Available for questions: Logan, Patton, Remus, Janus, Annie, Virgil, and Roman!
You’ve officially begun Level Two, with the whole main party collected, on the morning of Liar’s Night~!
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Roman sure is looking different!