Spider Virgil (a short story)

A Detailed Notebook

Thomas had just finished yet another episode of sander sides, and with that final 'take it easy guys, galls and non-binary pals' the recording was concluded. Patton did a first bump, "Yes another successful video!"

Thomas smiled at each of his sides one by one. Logan, who gave Thomas the slightest nod of approval, Roman, who smiled grandly, Patton who as too busy playing with the ends of his cardigan to notice and finally Virgil, who strangely, was unresponsive, staring into space, which he had been doing for almost the entirety of the video, not even making a snide remark when Roman called him an 'Emo Nightmare' once again.

"You good Virgil?", Hearing his name, Virgil jumped and gave Thomas what seemed to be his full attention. "Oh, yeah. Sure", he said. Once again looking away.
Patton had noticed the exchange, and asked: "are you sure Kiddo? You've been real quiet lately..." All the sides were looking now. "Yeah what's up Hot Topic?" Roman added. "Nothing" Virgil responded, "I just gotta lot of stuff on my mind right now." The others waited for him to share what was bothering him with everyone, like he always did, an expectant silence fell over Thomas and his sides. Virgil gave an awkward cough, and said, "Well, umm, I'm gonna go...." And he sunk out.

"I'll go see if he's alright!" said Patton trying to be positive, but with an edge of worry in his voice, and he sunk out as well. Roman looked at Logan in confusion as he was furiously scribbling in a notepad. "whatcha doing Pocket Protector?" forcing Logan out of his focus.
"Oh, Roman, I was writing down Virgil's recent behaviour." Roman raised an eyebrow, "I believe if we understand how he acts, then we can understand how he works, then we can, how do you say...' Logan pulled out a deck of notes, and selected one '...have Banter with him better." Thomas was thrown with Logan's use of the word 'Banter' but regained his composure and asked: "what've you got then?".
Logan gave a rare smile, of how much attention his work was getting, and was fully prepared to give a long description on all the infrequencies he has noticed is Virgil's actions these past weeks.
"Firstly, Virgil has been contributing less and less now in these 'sander sides' episodes, and concerning his job, making you anxious, maintaining good reflexes and your fight or flight instinct, among other things, has been very inconsistent, going between being incredibly intense to almost nonexistent, in a matter of hours or even seconds, not concerning your actual surroundings or intentions, which leads me to believe that this is because of Virgil's own... feelings. To find the cause of this I would need the aid of Patton, as I, Logic, do not understand such a concept, I could go on..."
he said, glancing up at Thomas and Roman, well aware that if he continued they would stop listening or, even worse, they would cut him off, yet to his surprise they were giving Logan their full attention.
"go on." Said Roman. Surprising Logan further, they never wanted to hear more, especially Roman. Yet he understood that the Fanciful side was indeed, concerned for Virgil's wellbeing.
"very well, when ever such spikes of Anxiety occur, Virgil is never present. Even in the mindscape, he is confined to his room. Do you recall, a week ago, you wished to do a video focusing on Patton and Virgil?' Thomas nodded, already knowing where this was heading,
'Virgil did not show, and you had to postpone the video, and after wards he would not give any explanation to what he was doing. I have also noticed that he is even more passive than usual during our time, not bothering to make any snide remarks in response to when Roman calls him, what I believe is termed, a 'nickname'. And finally, although Virgil has never been one for physical contact, even when one touches him accidentally, or one purpose, in Patton's case, he would normally begrudgingly accept the contact, yet now he pulls out of any contact, no matter how small. For example, the other day, Virgil bumped in to Roman in the mindscape, and the force of the impact forced Virgil to the floor, Roman offered his hand, yet, unusually, Virgil did not take it, choosing to get up by himself, then when Roman put his hand on Virgil's shoulder, Virgil shrugged it of and retreated to his room."
Logan closed his notebook, indicating that he was done. Roman gave an awkward chuckle, "Wow Specs, got one on me?" trying to dissipate the tension in the air, not expecting a response, Logan, however graced it with one "Yes, in fact, I do. As I cannot understand emotions, It helps me to recognize when something is wrong by writing down their behavior and noting the inconsistencies to give me a good idea of when I should pay more attention to an individual."
Logan looked towards Roman, expecting a violent reaction, but saw a lack of a Roman present, and turned to Thomas for an explanation for his absence, "He Sunk out"
Thomas said 'he was mumbling about helping Patton check on Virgil'. Logan raised and eyebrow, 'ah, then maybe I should check on Virgil as well. Good day.' And he too sunk out

But Thomas wasn't sure he was gonna have a good day. Not anymore.
909 words