Chapter Text
Janus bounced his child. The magicals were still there. Blocking the door.
He needed to go hunting, but it was too dangerous to take Roman with him, and it was too dangerous to leave him here with the magicals
They hadn’t hurt them yet, but he wasn’t going to give them a chance
He growled, watching their reactions carefully. They flinched. The unknown walked slightly closer, softly saying something to the other two. Janus clutched Roman to his chest. They turned to him and said something
They were asking if he was okay, he was fairly certain. The feelings being sent out felt concerned, questioning, and like they were attempting to comfort him
He stared, wondering why they would ask that, and almost without realising it, he shook his head.
He couldn’t decipher the face they were making and he turned away from them, whispering reassurances to Roman (and maybe to himself as well)
Roman mimicked him, though not getting every sound correct
Janus smiled, a tired smile, one that wouldn’t be hard to knock off of his face.
“I’m sorry you were born into a world as messed up as this, but I’m so glad I found you” He whispered, stroking hair from Roman’s face.
He was aware of the magicals’ eyes on him as he spoke, but he simply ignored them. He hoped they’d show him the same mercy as he showed them and not hurt him or Roman
They were still staring, still sending out comforting emotions that had to be a trap. They walked closer, and closer still. Janus held Roman closer, bearing his teeth at the intruding magicals. They stopped, and Janus shuffled backwards.
They backed away too, strangely calm. He hated this. At least last time he was in an enclosed space with magicals, he’d been the one pulling the strings, so to speak.
He gave another glare to the intruders.
They didn’t leave. He was so frustrated. His mind was in pieces, and he was trying to concentrate on keeping Roman safe, keeping Roman happy, keeping the magicals away, finding out what they wanted, figuring out why they hadn’t attacked yet.
They were still sending out emotional signals. They were trying to trick him, he knew that, but it felt so real that he couldn’t figure out why.
He bounced his child. He had done plenty of bad things to keep himself safe. He had done several things that he really regretted, that he definitely shouldn’t have done. He was barely grown, himself.
Roman was supposed to be away from all that shit.
He found that he really didn’t like that they’d dragged his son into this.
He and the magicals were at a standstill for several tense (minutes? Hours?) but they backed out of the room, whispering to each other
This did nothing to quell his suspicions. He put Roman to bed and watched the doorway. He didn’t fall asleep, despite his tiredness. He knew a trick when he saw one; they were trying to lower his guard and then they’d attack.
They were back after a few hours, more emotional signals being released, and more comforting words.
They were back every day for weeks. Janus had let his guard down ever so slightly. Roman liked them being around. Janus didn’t
He was starting to understand their language. Not much, but more than he used to. He had never really tried before.
—
Virgil felt bad for the human.
They were sat in the same room for hours, and not once did their emotions change from suspicious, upset, fear and anger. The child was not scared, but Virgil thought it should’ve been. For all the humans knew, Virgil and his friends were there for bad reasons
They had started sleeping in one of the other giant houses. Every day they came back to their human’s house, the human seemed to lower their guard ever so slightly.
Of course, no one was allowed near the child, still.
They were able to share names, eventually. The adult human was named Janus, the child named Roman. He, Patton and Logan shared their own names. Patton reported on different emotions they were feeling during their visits, and they were very slowly shifting from scared to wary.
Virgil was scared as well. He had a not-very-good experience with this particular human, and (while he understood that it had been an act of desperation) he couldn’t help but think of his imprisonment
It had been several months of his life spent in a dark cave, living in fear (he realised rather suddenly that that was Janus’s whole life before they made the treacherous journey up north)
He felt so sorry for them, and yet, he couldn’t help but feel some kind of resentment for the months taken from him. Their entire life had been taken from them. It was a conflicting feeling. He wanted to be fine with them (he knew that everything they did was an act of desperation, he knew that they had been through worse than he’d ever been. But what he had been through was at their hands )
The child was curious, playful. Virgil would be lying to say he wasn’t somewhat scared of a baby that was bigger than him. Babies grabbed anything in sight. It was good that Janus kept Roman away. Virgil didn’t have very positive experiences with being grabbed
He waited for a while, watching out of the giant window of the house he and his friends were staying in as Janus started hunting for food. Roman had been left in the house the humans were staying in, as usual, likely asleep.
Virgil didn’t know what to feel about anything anymore.