Chapter Text
“So, Virgil, what brings you here? It's not like anybody comes here for shits and giggles, y'know?" Roman asked through a mouthful of cheese sandwich, taking a moment to swallow. "What did you do to wind up here?”
Virgil shifted his eyes between Patton and Roman nervously. How the hell was he supposed to answer that? He cleared his throat before answering.
“Just depression and anxiety stuff." Virgil murmured before attempting to hide behind his lunch. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a satisfactory answer for Roman.
“Ok obviously you have depression or whatever, Emo. My question is what did you do to get sent here?” Roman presses. As he spoke the corners of his mouth ticked up into a grin. Patton watched their interaction curiously, and Virgil couldn't help but feel like she was avoiding eye contact. Who were these people thinking they were entitled to know that information? If Virgil didn’t possess the confidence of a shrimp, he would have kindly told them to fuck off and mind their business. Alas, his spine is but a wet noodle no match for peer pressure.
“I just cut myself, alright?” He muttered despondently.
"Where did you cut?” Roman asked not missing a beat, leaning forward on the table.
“I slit my wrists, okay?!” Virgil shot back, probably a bit too loudly. He shrunk back into his hoodie, grabbed his sandwich, and prayed this line of questioning was over. Roman only hummed before eating his lunch as well. The three sat in silence until they were all finished.
The room they were in - a living room of sorts - was packed with things yet very cosy. There were bean bags, a circular footstool, plastic chairs and a few couches to sit on. At opposite ends of the room were a 32” TV and a bike machine. Virgil thought it was a tad strange to have an exercise back shoved into the back of the den but hey, he sure didn’t design it. A single large square window was affixed opposite the doorway. It looked out into some kind of courtyard. The most striking thing about the room, however, were the walls. Painted onto the blue walls was a massive tree with what must’ve been hundreds of leaves. The leaves extended all around the room, wrapping the walls in a leafy hug. But that wasn’t what confused him, no. What confused him was that on the leaves there was writing. Writing in different colours, sizes and handwritings. Some leaves only held a sentence or two, whilst others contained whole ass paragraphs. Patton must have caught him staring.
“It's a tradition here. Anyone who stays for over a week gets to write a message on the day of their discharge. It’s supposed to inspire future patients. Or be something hopeful to look back on.” He sighed, setting down his crutches and sitting on the couch closest to Virgil. “Although, some people clearly didn’t get the memo.” She tapped a leaf near her head. It was something in Spanish, and from his limited understanding, Virgil could determine the text was not asking about a library.
“Nunca va a dar. Nunca te voy a decepcionar. Nunca voy a correr y abandonarte. Nunca te haré llorar. Nunca voy a decir adiós. ¡¡¡Nunca voy a decir una mentira y lastimarte!!!”
“I for one would love to meet the legend that chose to immortalise themselves with those words. I would give them a medal and everything!” Roman exclaimed. Virgil was still confused. What could it possibly say to garner such a dramatic reaction from Roman? He decided to ask as much.
“Can you read it? What does it say?” Virgil asked, but Roman only laughed. “Ah Virgil, I’m afraid my lips are sealed. I am honour bound not to tell anyone of the hidden message, lest there be dangerous consequences!” Roman declares, staring out through the window dramatically. O…….k then. He supposed it didn’t really matter what one stupid leaf said, right? Like, surely it's not something super significant that he really should know right? Fuck it, he’s gonna ask again.
Or he would've if someone else hadn't entered the room.
“Roman, Dr Kritiker would like to see you now.” Came a smooth voice on Virgil's right. He made eye contact with them before the person addressed him. Roman softly cursed on his way out.
“I’m inclined to assume you are the new patient, in that case, introductions are in order. Welcome, my name is Logan and I use he/him/his pronouns.” Logan said, extending a hand for Virgil to shake. Logan could not have been any taller than five feet. However, he stood with the confidence of a 57 year old who has worked in an office cubicle all his life. His black hair looked like it had once been shaved but had been growing out for some time. The brown skin on his face was marred by poorly healed scabs and scratches, possibly from poorly treated acne. A pair of teal rectangular glasses sat on his nose, and Virgil was momentarily surprised they would let him bring any glass in here.
Virgil clasped the offered hand and shook it once, twice (he thinks that's the normal amount?) and Logan shook it a third time.
“I’m Virgil, he/him”
Logan gave him a small nod before sitting opposite Virgil. “Welcome to Sanders, Virgil. Are you named after the poet by chance?” He questioned.
“Not that I know of, but maybe” Virgil replied before letting out an awkward chuckle. Thankfully, Logan didn’t comment, he only hummed and looked around the room before addressing Patton.
“Is Remus alright?” He softly inquired.
“I dunno, they haven’t left their room since last night.” Patton answered, her lips pulling down into a slight frown. “Ah, I see” Logan pushed his glasses higher up on his nose before speaking again. “Do you know how to play chess, Virgil? None of the others do”
“Hey, you did an excellent job teaching me!” Patton chimed in with a warm smile. Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“You keep calling the Knights Horseys, Patton. Actually, I don’t think you know any of the pieces' names!” Logan admonished with a raised eyebrow. Patton pouted.
“It's neigh-t my fault they’re cute lil horseys!” She whined
“I cannot believe you just made a horse pun. I’m ignoring you now for my own wellbeing." Logan deadpanned, raising a hand to block Patton out of his field of vision.
“So, Virgil, do you know how to play?” Logan asked, successfully ignoring Patton's giggles as he grabbed a worn book sitting on the floor.
“Uh, yeah, I can play.” Virgil replied. Logan finally smiled at that.
“Excellent!” He swiftly grabbed the chess set from the bookcase and sat down on the floor.
“Would you like to be white or black, Virgil?”