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glacierruler · 9 months

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Sanders Sides DND AU Chapter 2

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Taglist: @hyperfixated-homo @cutebisexualmess @prince-rowan-of-the-forest

CWs: death, death mention, fantasy racism, stalking, crime, theft, necromancy, misgendering(accidental) Please tell me if I missed anything!

"And just what do you think you're doing?"

That was the first thing Patton heard when they woke up. Becoming more alert by the second, they started frantically looking around, eyes landing on two humanoid figures, one of them holding what looked like a sword to the other's back. However Patton couldn't make out what they looked like because of how dark it was, as they were watching the two figures, they noticed humanoids stirring out of the corner of their eye. 'Where am I?’

"What's going on?" Shoot, they hadn't meant to say that out loud. What if these people were torturers who were about to do unspeakable things to Patton? They simply didn't know. Before they can spiral too far into their thoughts they watched as everyone, except two humanoids that were in the middle of something. The first to move was this figure with glasses, but it was how they moved that caught Patton's attention. It was almost like this humanoid was made of water, it had been 20 years since Patton had seen a humanoid like that.

"Ah, you are no longer incapacitated. You had lost consciousness, probably due to starvation, although I am not a professional healer so I do not have extensive enough knowledge to correctly diagnose what happened with you, so this is all a hypothesis of course. But based on how I can see your bone shape from your flesh, I doubt my hypothesis is too far off." The humanoid that moved like water adjusted something on his face, probably lenses, but it was too dark and blurry for Patton to see what it was before talking again. "We transported you into a vacant room at this tavern to make sure you were in a secure environment. That is how I became aware that those three, the two princes and their guard, were being stalked. Most likely by this petty thief that broke into the room. Although I will admit he was rather silent when he trespassed, as I did not hear the window open nor did I hear his footsteps."

Patton was suspicious, after all what are the chances the princes and their guard decided to help them of all creatures? Not only that, but what would they be doing here of all places? It just didn't make sense, but it didn't seem like they were there to torture Patton.

"Okay? Um, can we light up a torch or something? Just so that way I can see a little better," Patton asked, wanting to verify the story, just in case it was true. And on the high chance that it was false, Patton would be able to defend themself better if the light was on. Not that they'd stand much of a chance, but if they were going to die, they were going to die fighting for their life.

"Of course we can fair centaur, just give us a moment!" Said one of the other humanoids, and then a torch lit up a few seconds later. As Patton's eyes adjusted they started to look around the room. It was quite big, and now that they weren't panicking, the bed that they were on was rather comfortable. As Patton's eyes finally finished adjusting, they realized that the story that the creature had told was true.

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Paranoia knew he was fucked. He had thought everyone was asleep, they were all breathing evenly and lying on the floor, plus it was the time when the moon was highest. But now he had a sword at his back, and everyone was up. Now normally, he would have tried to fight his way through or found a way out, but these were the princes and their guard. All of which who had training in fighting, and probably magic, and he really didn't feel like dying today. Although he was glad for the centaur waking up, it had let him come up with a story that he hoped would work for this.

“Again,” the guard growled, once all the talking had ceased, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“Sorry,” Paranoia tried, “you see I was supposed to meet a friend—”

The sword started digging into his back. Shit, this guard doesn’t believe me! “You might want to start telling the truth, or this sword will go through you. After all, even attempting to steal from me gets you locked up in a dungeon for thirty years.” The guard’s tone was sneering, and if Paranoia had been facing them, he’s sure that the guard would be glaring at him, possibly with murderous intent. Right when Paranoia was about to speak again, the creature who had been confused about what had been happening started trying to defend him.

“I know stealing is wrong and all, but maybe they were just trying to get enough money to feed themselves. It’s common for those who don’t have much to try to do that, and I don’t want to see them die!” Well, there was no way out of the criminal aspect now. Paranoia watched as the prince’s brother started looking him up and down. He had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something stupid and being stabbed through the back.

“Ehhh,” the half-elf spoke, “this guy has been following us for days! Although, it is pretty ballsy to steal from my brother and his boyfriend. I say kill him, and I raise him again to put in my undead army!” Needless to say that was not one of the options that Paranoia would be okay with.

“Remus! We can’t just kill everyone who vexes us! This is why you’re not the crown prince!”

“I’m not the crown prince cause you’re older by a few days! Plus the bitch was stalking and attempting to steal from us!” Don’t roll your eyes, don’t roll your eyes, that is how you get stabbed. However, before anyone could get any further, the sword that was at Paranoia’s back was suddenly gone.

“Put those down right now!” The guard yelled, at someone else, and Paranoia turned around in time to see Empathy jumping out of the window with the crown and bow. Were they following me? I didn’t even notice them. Although the most confusing part about this, is why the left me here, they’ve never done that before. As Paranoia looked around, they noticed that the prince was freaking out, the guard was facing away from him, the centaur was looking around everywhere, and the watery looking one was writing something down. Leaving the only humanoid that was paying attention to him, the other prince, who was behind him. So my best chance of escape would be the door. Being quick was imperative in his survival as well. Turning around, taking care to be silent, he looked at the second prince again. And he was just smiling a smile, that showed all his teeth, including the ones in the back that normally don’t show. If Paranoia hadn’t known that he was a half-elf, he would’ve thought the prince was a vampire with how sharp his teeth are. Safe to say, speed was key in this, so, hoping to Seclos he wouldn’t get caught, Paranoia started to silently run to the door, ready to tackle a prince if need be. However, just a few seconds later, he felt something crawling all over his body, which made him stumble, managing to save himself so he didn’t fall flat on the floor. And now their was a sword at his back again.

“Well then, thief, trying to escape are we?” Paranoia very much wished that his luck would change soon, because at this point, if he didn’t die, that would be a miracle. “Normally, with an attempted escape after an attempted theft, I would arrest you and bring you to the dungeons to await a trial. However, considering the circumstances, I think I’ll give you a chance to get yourself out of such a dire situation. You can either aid us in tracking down this thief, and get our belongings back. Or I hand you to the local guards, and you’ll stay in their prison until I can bring you to the castle. After all, you decided to steal from the prince and myself. Although you miserably failed, attempted theft is still a crime.” Well, a miracle with strings attached is still a miracle. But there was no way he was getting Empathy arrested. Not after all they’ve been through together, sure Empathy might have left them for dead here, but something had to have happened in order for them to do that, and Paranoia would be damned if he didn’t figure out what it was. Now of course one of the many problems with this, was that most of them were well dressed. Which meant they didn’t fit in into the underworld, so Paranoia would have to get them the correct clothes to blend in, and hope that the crown prince wouldn’t be recognizable like that. Either way, Paranoia needed to agree to get the answers he needed without having to break out of jail again. Plus with how the guards were… well, let’s just say it was safer for him to agree.

“Fine, I’ll do it, but you all need an outfit change, because I am not getting caught with the likes of you.” Paranoia heard the guard snicker a bit, before stating amusedly:

“Oh, and you’re in a place to be making demands I see? What next will you ask for? Maybe free gold, a house or maybe a mansion, you’re own personal guards—”

“Alright, I get it, I get it, but still, there is no way we’ll get information with you all looking like that. I’ll pay for the outfits, and meet you outside of the tavern when the sun’s highest in the sky tomorrow.” Paranoia had thought of this on the spot, if he could convince them to let him go, he could look for answers on his own. And never have to worry about them again, hopefully. Feeling the sword pressed against his back leave, he relaxed a bit.

“Turn around.” Deciding to not press his luck, Paranoia turned around, to see a smirking guard looking down at him. “I will need to talk to the princes about this, but I think I’ll allow it. However, until it is agreed upon, you will not move from that spot, or you will be sent to the local prison until I can escort you to the castle dungeons.” Well that was hopeful—

“Love,” the crown prince started to say, “we can’t trust him not to abandon us. You know people like that lie all the time to get what they want.”

“There’s something I can do to minimize, if not completely get rid of that being a possibility. Escaping us would be almost impossible.” Nevermind, Paranoia was very much screwed.

“Are you talking about, that thing? Are you sure you want to use it on the likes of a petty thief?” This was the second time Paranoia had been called a petty thief, and he was annoyed, if he’d been just a petty thief he would never have tried to steal from the crown prince of all people! But admitting that would mean the probability that even if he did help them, he’d spend time behind bars, so instead he just glared.

“Oooh! Or, we could harvest his memories, kill him, and I could raise him from the dead to be part of my army! It would mean he would be loyal to at least me!” The other prince, Remus, exclaimed excitedly, and considering the loud thuds that were ringing around the room, he was also jumping up and down. What’s this guy’s deal with trying to kill me and raise me from the dead? I wasn’t even trying to steal from him!

“Remus, that is going to be a no for multiple reasons.” The guard said, glaring at the prince. “First, and foremost, we are not killing him, or backing out on our part of the deal! Second, you don’t know any spells that raise people from the dead, as you only started your wizard training a few years ago. And third—”

“Fine, J- anus, I get it, we’re not killing the thief. Yet.” Paranoia had to try not to snicker at that, as he really didn’t want to ruin his chances of getting out of there.

“Oh yes, please just give the criminal our names! How could that ever go poorly?!” The guard exclaimed.

“Yeah, well, Roman told him my name, and you didn’t get onto him!”

“Remus! You just told him my name! And we were in the middle of our items getting stolen when I said stuff, he probably didn’t even remember it.” Paranoia was so glad he was wearing a mask, trying not to laugh at whatever this chaos is, was nearly impossible, and he could definitely feel his mouth starting to smile.

“Oh! Are we sharing our names now? I’m Patton! What’s everyone elses name? Oh, and I use they/them pronouns, I hope that’s not a problem” Paranoia watched as the guard and the princes just stopped talking, Roman and Janus looking at Patton in abject horror.

“Ah, if we’re to be introducing ourselves, I am called Logan. I use he/him pronouns, and I would also like to opt out of this journey. I am in charge of the Fortoling Public Library, and cannot be gone for that long without an imperative reason. However I wish you the best in your travelling.”

“Well, since we’re introducing ourselves now,” Janus spat bitterly, probably upset at how his companions so willingly gave out their names. Paranoia couldn’t blame him, if he had companions that knew and gave out his name to a complete stranger, he’d probably want to kill them all. “And as one of you has implied what my name is, in a rather crude way, I will tell you all my pronouns at the very least. He/him.”

“Ooh, Robro and I also use he/him pronouns! What about you, not yet allowed to be part of my zombie army person?” Did they really expect him to give out his name, to complete strangers? That was definitely not happening.

“You can call me Paranoia, and just don’t use it/its pronouns for me and we’re good.” Not quite the truth about his pronouns, but he really didn’t feel like explaining that his pronouns changed from day to day, or sometimes even hour to hour. And now he was being glared at by the guard and the crown prince, for not saying his name, while everyone else was staring at him. “What, like I’m telling a bunch of strangers my name. Not even my friends know my name.” He started closing himself off, the hilarity of the last few minutes now feeling very bitter and cold. He watched as Janus rolled his eyes, and walked over to him.

“Fine, keep your name a secret. At least one of us gets to.” The guard was definitely perturbed by what had happened, and if Paranoia wasn’t being forced to nanny them to their items, he might have felt bad for Janus. “Alright, now let’s get back on topic—”

That’s when the door was barged open. “What in Xerothowla’s name is going on in here!” A voice roared. Paranoia turned around to see a large half-orc glaring at all of them.

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kieraelieson · 3 years

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Centaur AU 8

When Thomas woke up, rather slowly, feeling itchy and groggy and much in need of a shower, it was to soft voices and little clops of moving hooves.

“And where is the rest of the food?”

“That’s all there is out here. Mostly we tend to eat the pre-made stuff.”

“I’ll have to put it on the list too then.”

Thomas opened his eyes, registering that Patton and Emile were talking.

Patton sighed. “It’s just… strange. I worry that with all of the new nice things that once Thomas leaves it’ll be so miserable and I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle it.”

“Thomas won’t be leaving. Or if he does, we’ll be taking you with us.” Emile promised.

Thomas nodded slightly, staying silent.

Patton moved, peeking over the shorter wall that separated his stall from the one Thomas was using as a bed, met Thomas’s eyes, and jumped back with a sound rather like a loud squeak.

“Oh, dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were awake.”

Thomas sat up. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s alright,” Emile said. “Little mishaps happen, you both are fine.”

Thomas stood up and stretched, gratefully noting that Emile was making breakfast for everyone. Between yesterday and now already this morning, he could tell he was going to greatly appreciate Emile. He was going to have to find some way to pay Emile back somehow.

He opened the stall, seeing Roman and Remy blinking and drowsy, and Virgil very much awake.

“Let me see what we have going for today,” he said, mostly to himself, as he walked over to the schedule on the wall. “Oh, Emile, thanks for making breakfast.”

“You’re welcome.” Emile said. “Though, as you may have heard, we are woefully short on ingredients.”

Thomas nodded.

“What about coffee?” Remy asked. “Please tell me they have coffee here.”

“Not yet.”

Remy let out a long groan and flopped onto the floor dramatically.

Thomas couldn’t help a little smile. He looked at the schedule, trying to parse out the rather terrible handwriting. He should get a new one and fill it out himself. His handwriting might not be that much better, but he could read it himself more easily, and he wouldn’t have to try and translate names with a tired brain.

Patton had a party at five, though it didn’t say when it ended. And Logan had one of those charity things, which he would certainly not be doing. Thomas considered a long moment, and then started looking for a phone number. He was probably the one that had to call and cancel things like that.

He finally found a whole list of phone numbers on the back of the calendar, and managed to get the right one, and tell them that Logan wouldn’t be able to participate in anything for at least six months, or however long the vet said after follow-up visits.

They weren’t very happy about it. But in this, Thomas wouldn’t take no for an answer, and if they were going to talk to the Authiers’ lawyer, well, hopefully the lawyer knew what to do. Because Logan wasn’t going back to a single one of those contests, legal or otherwise, until he was both healed and wanted to.

He turned back around to see worried faces, and wished that the phone wasn’t corded so that he could have taken it outside and not worried them all.

“It’s alright, I just canceled all of Logan’s events for the next few months. He’ll be fine to rest up and get well now.”

“Well that’s good,” Roman said.

Virgil and Patton nodded solemnly.

Thomas yawned and considered. What should he do next? It took a moment to come to his fuzzy brain, but he realized that he should come up with something for them all to do all morning, rather than just standing around. He felt slightly bad about having the paddock be his go-to, but it was worlds better than being cooped up in a stall, and he didn’t really know enough to give them somewhere else to… perhaps that’s what they could do. Explore the estate as a group and find all the places where they could go, and figure out what there was to do.

He had to have Patton back, clean and ready, by five then, and he needed to do something to set up Logan first, but that seemed like a very good plan. Also, considering clean and ready, they would all need a good brushing down at some point. Perhaps he ought to aim at getting back by three then, and asking Remy and Emile for help setting up a kind of grooming circle.

But he had a plan! And one that, barring unforeseen troubles, seemed like a good one. It wasn’t too ambitious, and it might even go well.

But first breakfast. Which… he didn’t really have. And he felt absolutely terrible to say it, but he didn’t want to try the centaurs’ food. He’d always kind of guessed they didn’t mind that weird grassy smell, cause they ate grass anyway. That was a thing he needed to ask about.

“Well, if they have a bunk room, they might have something like a cafeteria here, I’m going to see if I can find it and get some breakfast. If there’s coffee, I’ll bring you back a cup, Remy. Also, I might need your phone, and I’ll expect someone to call me if Logan wakes up.”

Remy, still splayed out on the floor in a rather uncomfortable-looking position, nodded and floundered, trying to reach his bag without getting up. He was unsuccessful, much to the amusement of everyone watching. He made sure to pout at each and every one of them once he got his bag and his phone.

“You know someday it won’t be little funny smiles!” he threatened, turning away from them all.

“Thank you, Remy,” Thomas said seriously. “I’ll be sure to get you coffee.”

Remy grumbled out something that might have been a thank you, or perhaps something else.

And then Thomas went for a walk, running his hands through his hair and swiping at his clothes to hopefully make himself look less like he’d been sleeping in a pile of hay. He vaguely knew that the bunkhouse was somewhere roughly straight from one wall of the stable, though he wasn’t certain how far it would be. And he just hoped someone would still be in the bunkhouse that he could ask.

Perhaps he should have asked one of the centaurs to come with him. It would be faster, and another set of hands in case he had to bring back several things. But he didn’t want to stop them from eating or having a bit of time to themselves. They certainly could use all the good things he could possibly get them.

He walked a good way before seeing the building, and jogging towards it. He was lucky enough to reach it right as someone else was walking out.

“Oh! Uh, excuse me, can I…” He had to pause a moment to breathe, but managed to continue. “I’m looking for a… cafeteria?”

“Yeah, it’s over this way, but breakfast ends at nine, you should hurry.” They pointed to a different nearby building, with its doors standing open.

Thomas nodded quickly. “Thank you!”

He ran into the cafeteria, grateful to see that the line was only a few people long. There was prepared eggs, sausage, bacon, something that looked like oatmeal perhaps, and toast. Thomas piled up his plate and then looked until he found the coffee. He served himself a cup of coffee and found some to-go cups, filling one up with coffee as close to the way he knew Remy liked it.

He felt rather overwhelmed by hurrying, especially as he glanced at a clock on the wall and saw that, if nine truly was the cut off, he only had ten minutes to eat. But despite his hurry, he had a fleeting question float through his mind. Would any of the other centaurs want coffee?

He should find a way to get decent food to them. Or bring them here. They may indeed like grass and hay and food made from it, but they also liked normal food, and should have it as a regular option.

He just didn’t know how. Yet.

He was working on it. And that would have to be enough for the moment.

Thomas tried to relax a little and eat, but he couldn’t help worrying that something bad would happen while he was gone.

Soon he was getting up and going back towards the stables, hoping that everything was fine, that they’d had a nice breakfast and Logan was still peacefully sleeping, but worrying that it wouldn’t be the case.

When he opened the door though, they all seemed perfectly fine. Logan was even still asleep. He really needed to trust them a bit more.

“Hi, guys,” he said, feeling more than a little awkward, all out of breath from having hurried back when nothing was wrong.

“Did you get my coffee?” Remy asked eagerly.

Thomas nodded. “ Yeah, I did, here. It’s not hot anymore, but it’s still a bit warm.”

Remy made a weird face, somewhere between grateful and still a bit displeased at the luke-warm coffee.

Thomas agreed with him, honestly. It wasn’t even close to ideal. And surely there was something better they could do. “I wanted to talk with you all.”

Virgil seemed concerned, but the rest of them watched him curiously.

“About what?” Patton asked.

“Well… this isn’t working out the best…”

On seeing the look on Virgil’s face, Thomas quickly backtracked. “Not like I’m giving up! Not at all. More like, I’m gonna need some help to know how to actually move forward. I’ve been doing my best, but it’s not exactly worked out well.”

“Ok…” Roman said slowly. “I think we can agree that things haven’t exactly gone the best, but… it’s not like we can help with much.”

Thomas nodded. “I know it feels that way, it does to me too, but there has to be something we can do. For starters, there’s the cafeteria. It exists, and I know that now, but do you guys want to go there? If you do, I’m sure I can come up with a way to make them let us in. It’s big enough. Or perhaps we could have them set out tables outside for you all. But I need to know that it’s what you want too. If you don’t care, or would rather stay here, we can work that out too.”

There was some shuffling back and forth, and several pairs of eyes staring at the ground.

“Well, I for one want hot coffee. Count me in.” Remy said firmly. “And I bet Emmy wants to come get some real food too.”

Emile nodded. “Yes, I’d prefer more of a variety of food than what is here.”

Thomas looked at Roman in particular next, hoping he would have more firm opinions.

Roman sighed, a rather pinched look on his face. “I like the idea of better food, but I’m not sure if I want to deal with all the other workers to get it.”

Patton nodded immediately. “We’d have to be quiet, and they would say rude things, and it would be pretty miserable even with the good food.”

Virgil nodded silently, clearly agreeing with Patton.

“Alright then,” Thomas said. “Well, what if I were to call the Authiers and see about officially changing what you’re all fed? If I insisted, I’m sure there’s a possibility of getting food sent here. We’d perhaps have to deal with the courier, but that would be less trouble.”

“If it’s at all possible, which is not certain,” Logan said.

Thomas went immediately to his stall to check on him. “Are you feeling ok? Would you want more painkillers? You haven’t eaten yet, right?”

Logan gave him an odd look. Of all of them, Thomas had the hardest time decoding what Logan’s looks were supposed to mean.

“Yes. Painkillers would be nice, and I haven’t eaten yet.”

Thomas nodded quickly, shooting Emile a glance. Emile was ahead of him already, getting a plate of food for Logan. Thomas went and made the same kind of slurry with the medicine that Logan had asked for the other time, putting some drink mix into the water so it wouldn’t taste as bad.

Once he got back, Virgil was already in Logan’s stall, trying to help him sit up without jostling his legs. Emile handed the plate in and then backed up so Thomas could get in with the medicine.

“Here you go, and I’ll go get some clean bandages to wrap your legs up in.”

Logan nodded stiffly and then downed the medicine with a slight grimace.

Thomas grabbed a few rolls of bandages and went in, extremely concerned to see Logan looking spacey already.

He knelt down next to Logan’s shoulder, laying his hand on his gently and rubbing very small circles. “Hey, there, Logan, are you with me?”

Logan looked at him silently, his face concerningly blank.

“I’m a bit concerned, ok? Can you stay here with me? I’d like to know I’m not hurting you, so I’ll need you to talk with me, ok?”

Logan let out a sigh. “I won’t be hurt by the changing of bandages.”

“Well, I certainly hope not, but just in case, can you try and stay present with me? And with Virgil?”

Logan looked up at Virgil, who was much more obviously concerned than even Thomas was. He slowly nodded.

“Alright. Here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to run my hand down your leg to the end of the bandage and start unwinding it. Can you stay focused on Virgil for me? Tell me things about him, what colors can you see in his eyes?”

Logan frowned slightly, which was a good thing to Thomas. “What do you need to know the color of his eyes for?”

“To help you pay attention,” Virgil said softly. “You help me pay attention to safe things around me sometimes, this is like that.”

“Yes, exactly.” Thomas said, slowly and lightly running his hand down Logan’s leg. “Alright, I’m going to unwind this now. What colors can you see?”

Logan was looking far more attentive and present, staring up into Virgil’s face. “Mostly black. A very dark brown. Something that might appear green, except for the darkness of his eyes in general, which makes it look like a dark gray.”

Thomas very gently started unwinding the bandage. “That’s very good. What about his hair?”

“Most would classify the color as black. But when seen in the light there aren’t the cool undertones usually present in a pure black. I would classify it as a very dark brown.”

“That’s a very thoughtful way of saying it,” Thomas said. “My hand is going to move over to your other front leg, and then run down to unwind then bandage the same way.”

Logan nodded.

As Thomas moved to unwind the next bandage, he thought of another thing. “Why don’t you tell me about what you were doing in the paddock the other day? It seemed very clever. Something to keep you away from the holes without being able to see them clearly.”

Logan gave him another one of those odd looks when Thomas said the idea was clever. Thomas still wasn’t certain what it meant, but he decided to remember that, and use the word clever more often with Logan.

“It’s more of a common sense idea, but if you’re curious…” Logan trailed off, and Thomas looked up to see him looking the slightest bit bashful.

“I’m going to move to your back leg now. And yes, I am curious. It sounds like a useful thing to learn.”

Logan cleared his throat. “If you’d like to learn then, I suppose I’ll tell you.”

Virgil sent Thomas a look, a look that said he’d stumbled across a key, and that Virgil wasn’t certain how he was going to use it. Though to be honest, Thomas wasn’t sure either.

“I’m going to touch you now, and stroke down your leg to unwind the bandages,” Thomas said, careful to keep his tone light and unobtrusive, hoping Logan would continue.

“I am far-sighted, so I could see the holes at a distance, but not close to my own feet. If I could place the hole along the fence, and if I was careful to take measured steps, I could place it between the two fence posts, and I could know how many steps from the first post until I would need to step over or around it. Virgil was helping by confirming the distance. I haven’t yet mastered taking steps of perfectly regular length, so my calculations were often incorrect by a step or two.”

“Wow. -I’m moving to your other back leg now- That really is very smart, Logan. I’m impressed.”

Logan smiled slightly.

Thomas counted that as a very big win. “Alright, I’m going to go and get the ointment and then wrap your legs up. You can go ahead and eat your breakfast. And then the vet said we need to have you walking some, but slowly. I’ll be right back and then explain my plan.”

Logan nodded.

Thomas was quick, and soon got back with the ointment.

“So what is your plan?” Virgil asked.

“Well, first helping Logan,” Thomas said, kneeling again by his legs. “I’m going to go in the same order as last time, starting with this leg. And once I’m done, we’re going to very carefully help Logan up. If he’s doing well, then I’m hoping a few of you will help him walk around the outside of the stable a few times. -Alright, I’m moving to the next leg- And while you all walk around, I’m going to try and set up the iPad with a bunch of books, and see if I can make it so that Logan can get more when he wants to. That way he will have something calm and enjoyable to do while we’re gone. -I’m moving to your back legs now- And then I was thinking that some or all of the rest of you might want to come with me, and explore some of the estate, see what all there is, and where else we might like to spend time. Ok, last leg now, Logan.”

“That seems like a good plan,” Roman commented.

Thomas looked up to see Patton looking around at them all, confused. “What’s up, Pat?”

“Just… what’s an iPad? Is it like a bookshelf?”

Thomas was a bit concerned to see a few curious looks. Apparently several of them had never heard of an iPad.

“Well, I bought one… yesterday? Was it yesterday I went to the store? I think. Anyway, it’s a small rectangle, and it runs on electricity. It does a lot of things, and it’s pretty complicated, but the reason I bought it is that it can hold many many books inside it without taking up much space.”

Patton nodded slowly, still looking confused.

“Later today I’ll let you try it some too, ok?” Thomas said with a smile.

Patton nodded more confidently this time.

“And the rest of you too, I’m sure you’d all like a little bit to try it out. It’s mostly for Logan, especially while he’s healing, but everyone can try.”

Thomas stood up, looking around the stall. “Ok, Logan. Do you think you can stand up with just me and Virgil helping? Or would someone else be better? Or would you like to try by yourself?”

Logan frowned slightly in consideration. “I’d prefer just Virgil.”

Thomas nodded immediately and left the stall. “Just be gentle on yourself.”

Logan set his empty plate aside, held up a hand for Virgil to grab onto, and then heaved himself up. His face twisted in pain, and once he was standing he leaned heavily on the wall.

Thomas gave him a moment before asking, “How is it?”

“Painful. But bearable.”

Thomas nodded solemnly. “Ok. I’d like you to try walking around the stable. Take long, slow steps, don’t push it too much. If the pain changes at all, stop there and come back in to lay down.”

Logan nodded, very slowly moving to leave the stall.

Thomas left it to them all to take care of him, and tried to figure out where he’d left the iPad, and where would be a good place to plug it in.

From outside, he heard quite a few ‘be careful’s, followed by Logan saying ‘I may be injured, but I don’t want to be babied, I can walk on my own’.

Thomas smiled to himself. With Logan doing this well, if he could just keep going, he’d surely be better soon.

———

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