Sensitivity Training [1]
Summary: Thomas had a bad day, and got more upset at things that wouldn't usually bother him too much. He summons his sides, only to find them acting weird. He's told it's an internal issue, one issue they don't want Thomas to resolve himself, one that has to do with Sensitivity.
wc: 1,809
Thomas already had his equipment recording when he said, “Okay, guys, I already know I have a problem to deal with today because I’ve been extra sensitive and touchy so let’s just bring out the sides. Patton!”
He figured he would call Patton first because his emotions were having a roller coaster today and it might bring something to light to have a bit of introspection with his dad side.
Thomas waited for a moment, but no Patton arrived. “Guys? Can you come up here?”
He witnessed the floor open up where Patton would stand. Thomas was looking down at Logan standing casually and Patton hunched over another figure he couldn’t quite see. “Guys, what’s going on?”
Logan looked up, a little startled but easily composed himself, “Ah, Thomas, we are in the middle of a situation. I would recommend that you relax and-”
A loud wailing started up near Patton, making him jump a bit. He can’t make out who it sounds like, but then again, he hasn’t exactly heard the sides weep openly to or in front of him.
“-and try to relax, treat yourself as well as you have to. You deserve it.” Logan finished, unnaturally soft with how he presented the statement. Not to mention out of character.
“Um. Okay, maybe, but who’s crying?” Thomas asked, wary of letting the sides deal with a situation when it could potentially be solved better with all of them.
Patton looked up through the hole to wave to Thomas while patting the back of whoever was crying, he assumed. “Hey Thomas! Everything’s alright, kiddo! You’re gonna be okay!” he said with extra sympathy in his heart.
Ignoring the fact that his question wasn’t answered, he turned to see that Roman and Virgil had popped up in their respectful locations.
“Hello, my dearest Prince Thomas! You look especially handsome today, don’t you agree, Virgil?” Roman said, as if he were talking to a child. It’s not like Thomas minded, he just thought it was suspicious.
“Yeah, he sure is.” Virgil said with as much enthusiasm he could muster, which wasn’t a lot to begin with.
“Roman, Virgil, why is everyone being so nice to me?” Thomas questioned, staring back and forth at the both of them as the two also looked at each other.
“Well...” Roman started, “We know you’ve had a rough day and wanted to be gentle with you, like all princes should be handled.”
Thomas half-laughed, “I know something is happening. I’m ready to deal with it.”
Virgil and Roman frowned at each other, Logan and Patton were talking quietly under the drowning sound of the loud sobs coming from the portal on the floor to the mindscape.
“We don’t think you’re ready for this, Thomas.” Virgil spoke. “You’ve had a rough day, there will be another rough day to deal with this, hopefully that one will be a lot less horrible than today.” He was the first side to be honest with him today, looking and sounding worn out.
Humming, Thomas said, “It almost sounds like ‘this’ is another side. Why would I have to ‘deal’ with another side? That sounds... dismissive.” Concern rose in his voice.
“This is a deal, a situation, like Logan said,” Virgil stated, “We like to figure out how to solve problems ourselves before giving you the opportunity to because Patton says it expands on our ‘teamwork skills’.”
Thomas only replied with an "Um." before Logan rose in his proper spot.
"Oh, our charming and intelligent knight has arrived!" Roman gallantly noted, and Logan gave him a weird half-look before focusing on Thomas.
"Hello, Thomas. We should talk before bringing this to our full attention."
With a slap of his hands against his thighs, Thomas responded with, "Sure." The crying was starting to get to him.
Logan nodded, and looked at the portal. He stretched out an arm and then closed his hand into a fist, and with that gesture the portal closed and the silence was blissful to the four of them.
"We have interacted and helped you down from sensitive episodes before, unbeknownst to you, but it only works 72.1% of the time. The other 27.9% you fix yourself, when you're feeling this way." Logan knew they needed Patton to come up and talk soon, he couldn't do it all by himself lest he end up offending someone.
"Oh. How do I fix it? I didn't even realize." Thomas was surprised that he fixed his own 'problems' without knowing he had them.
"By um..." Logan paused, Roman looked a little uncomfortable, and Virgil looked a lot uncomfortable. He didn't know why, but Logan felt a tinge of embarrassment. "By relieving stress. Through physical means."
Chuckling, Thomas gave a simple, "Oh." He knows that's a true statement.
"Patton, we need you here." Logan called, willing the conversation to move on from the topic as quickly as possible. He didn't like when one emotion center was skewed because it messed with all of them.
Patton rose as quickly as possible, exclaiming, "Your favorite dad is here! Now who wants a hug?"
"Our beautiful, cheerful, and positive Patton has arrive!" Roman said, Thomas could tell he was trying to bring up everyone's moods, which he appreciates.
"Patton," Logan announced, "Can you tell us the difference between Morality's Feelings and Sensitivity's Feelings?"
"Well, sure! Thomas, when you get emotional it can come in two ways: inside adaptive feeling, and outside reactive feeling.
Inside adaptive feeling is when you are changing your feelings with situations that are within you. This includes feeling happy when you wake up, and retaining the positive mindset that keeps you going! You have a good control of your feelings in this way of feeling.
"Outside reactive feeling is when you have a reaction to an outside feeling that you didn't anticipate. For example, when you empathize or sympathize with someone when you didn't expect it. Or when you have a bad day and the terrible feeling lingers."
"Just so you know," Logan interjected, "Patton came up with all of that himself."
“Aw, thanks for giving me credit, Lo-buddy!”
“Don’t call me that.”
Thomas pauses for a moment to go over the definitions. They were a bit abstract, but Thomas replies with, "That's interesting, Pat. You're the half with inside adaptive feeling. Am I right?"
"Exactly, Thomas!"
"Sensitivity and sensuality work in conjunction both physically and mentally." Logan stated. “The important thing to remember is that you can become sensitive from internal stimuli, for example, thinking of your own demise or another emotionally charged subject.
Before letting Thomas think on that too much, he continued, “Now that you have an understanding of what sensitivity works with, we can proceed.”
“Proceed with what, exactly? Am I meeting a new side?” Thomas questions. Usually they appear on their own volition, but then again, the two newest sides have not been... as friendly as he would have imagined.
“Only if you want to, Thomas! You could put this off for another day, but you have the opportunity to meet another in our crazy ensemble!” Roman declared, and it’s not like Thomas would have refused, he could see how stressed they were and with what they were going through.
A moment passed in contemplation, more so anticipation for Thomas as he thought about what the side would look like. Would they have a pair of glasses like Logan and Patton do? Would they have a deep intense voice or a flighty or casual tone? What is their color?
“Alright, I’m ready.” Thomas finally said. Everyone stood looking at him for a moment before Virgil slapped his own forehead.
“Oh, duh, you have to summon them.” With a confused look on Thomas’ face, Virgil continued, “You need to summon the feeling of being sensitive.”
“What, so like, making myself think of sensitive things? Make myself vulnerable?” He warily asked, hoping it wasn't that difficult.
"Yep, pretty much." Virgil responds, and Thomas is already thinking about the things he's sensitive about. His family, religion, content, homophobia, and he could name more.
Instead, he focused in on what bothered him; how reactive he was when he was in town today. Thomas got upset a lot, so he just thought these moments over. He was pushed in the grocery store, there were anti-gay posters on the side of a building, when he and Joan were ripping them down they got called names, he stepped in a puddle of water and got his sock wet, and he dropped a slice of bread with jelly (Crofters) on the floor.
Opening his eyes, he saw a pink figure sitting on the stairs behind Virgil, who had moved off to the side to let Thomas see.
The side was wearing a plain, pink sweater and white jean pants, face pouting as they looked away from Virgil and especially Thomas. Thomas noticed that they were wearing a gentle rosy-peachy-pink lipstick, non-matte, and mascara because there was no way his eyelashes were that prominent normally.
Logan had a question (Can you dye your eyelashes?) but he didn't want to interrupt Thomas meeting the new side, so he held his tongue and glared at Roman so he'd remember. Roman gave him a look before looking back to Thomas to see his reaction.
"Um, h-" Tbomas started, but immediately got cut off.
"Today was horrible!" The side pouted, half yelling.
Ah. Legendary first words. Their voice was a little bit more high pitched, almost sounding like a teenager. "Yeah, I know it was, but now-"
"Now it's still a mess, I'm still upset! I wanted to tell you about it myself but PATTON and LOGAN WOULDN'T LET ME!" They yelled, glaring at the two sides viciously.
"We were not stopping you in any way, we just recommended that he summon you before you showed up unexpectedly." Logan stated, unphased by the emotion.
"At least we laid the news on gently." Roman muttered.
"I... I want to talk about what I'm going through, then all of the other sides, because they're hurting too in different ways and you don't even see it!" They looked into Thomas' eyes for the first time. Patton rubbed his temples subconsciously.
Through gritted teeth, Virgil said, "I thought we agreed not to talk about that."
"Hurting?" Thomas felt an iron weight in his chest. "M-My sides... are hurting?"
"Yeah," They started somberly, "But you don't get to hear that drama until you deal with this hot lava coming your way! You need me now more than ever to help mend the sides back together."
"Okay, um, I wouldn't be opposed to hearing your perspective on things. But what do I call you?"
"Oh," They looked away to the carpet, flushing as they realized that they didn't introduce themselves. "Sensitivity. Five syllables."
"It's nice to meet you, Sensitivity." Thomas gently replies, smiling.
