An hour of brainstorming later, and they came up with nothing. It seemed like every road they turned down, every option they thought there may be, turned into a dead end, with no way to get there. After all, it wasn't an easy issue. Thomas didn't exactly think that anyone else had ever had to face this issue. Or at least, if someone had, he didn't know about it. Even Logan admitted he had no idea, which was rare.
Virgil muttering all his small remarks under his breath about how it was impossible, and they were going to be trapped there forever, and eventually, they'd be found out and dragged into some scientists test lab wasn't helpful either. They all generally tried to ignore it, Patton trying to drown it out with positivity, but it got to them all in the end.
"There doesn't seem to be any remedy for this complication at the moment, so I suggest we all learn to adapt to the circumstances, at least until we can discover a superior method to dealing with this," Logan finally said, crossing his arms and frowning.
Patton looked at him, pouting. "Awww Logan, buddy, don't give up!" he said quickly.
Logan fixed him with a strange stare. "I am not 'giving up' I'm simply, like I already stated, adapting. The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."
"Does someone need a hug?"
"No, I do not need- well then." Logan awkwardly patted Patton on the back. The most loving trait sighed, snuggling closer before letting go and stepping back.
"Well," Virgil said after a moment, looking between them, "that was... very cringy."
Logan only sighed and ran his hands down his clothes as if dusting them off. "Are you satisfied?" he questioned, directing his words towards Patton.
Patton smiled at him and twirled slightly from side to side. "Are you satisfied?"
Logan opened his mouth as if to reply when Roman suddenly spoke up. "Look, enough with the hugs- clearly the situation calls for us to fight!"
"Fight what, smart ass?" Virgil snapped. Narrowing his eyes, he looked towards Thomas. "Thomas has been pretty quiet- probably because he knows already, that there is no solution, this isn't normal, it's just another sign that we're messed up-"
"Now, now, that isn't true!" Patton said quickly, clapping his hands together. "None of us are 'messed up!' Not me, Virgil, Roman, Logan, or Thomas! We're all special, and unique!"
"Your grammar was-"
"Look," Thomas said, interrupting Logan to speak, "I think... Logan and Virgil are right." Virgil looked surprised, while Logan just straightened, turning to look at him and paying attention. Patton and Roman looked mildly horrified, both quickly trying to talk, but Thomas spoke quickly before they could. "Not with we're all messed up stuff! Just... we can't find anything by sitting in a circle and talking. We'll figure this out, whatever this is, but... this isn't helping. Adapt, and all, right?"
"Exactly my point," Logan said quickly. "I will go and effectuate my own research, and you can all go and do your own thing to aid us."
"Well, I just think we get more done when we work together," Patton said quickly, frowning and gazing at Logan with his puppy eyes.
Thomas suddenly sat up, eyes lighting up. "How about this- wait, you all know about left brain right brain, right?" he asked. Everyone looked towards Logan, who sighed.
"Well, it's- the brain is divided into two hemispheres. The 'left brain' is supposed to be more... intelligence based, more logical, analytical, objective. Meanwhile, the right brain is said to be based on feelings, imagination, intuition, rhythm." Logan paused, and hesitated, before adding, "but-"
"Logan, you talked too much," Virgil interrupted, making Logan fall silent. Virgil only had eyes for Thomas, said eyes very narrowed. "Where are you going with this, exactly?"
"Well, I think you and Logan are like the left brain, while Patton and Roman are my right brain," Thomas explained. "So... why don't I split you guys up into two groups, a left brain with a right brain? With different talents, you can cover each other blind spots."
"Teamwork!" Patton squealed happily.
Even Logan's eyes lit up, and he nodded slowly. "Yes... I... what will the groups be?"
"Logan with Patton, and Virgil with Roman," Thomas declared. Logan and Patton didn't look like they really minded, Logan's facial expression not twitching, and Patton looking excited to work with either Logan or Virgil. But Virgil and Roman were a different story.
"You're joking, right?" Virgil demanded, a heavy scowl appearing on his face. "All me and princey here do is fight! Why don't you and him team up, and I'll go by myself?"
"Agreed," Roman huffed, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "I'd prefer to be with you, Thomas, than Anxiety!"
"Enough," Thomas snapped, rolling his eyes. Anxiety? What, did Roman not want to call Virgil, by, well, Virgil? "I have work. Besides, this is a good test to see if we can all separate."
"And if we can't?" Virgil demanded, narrowing his eyes. "If you're on the highway, and you hit the borders of how far we can separate, and your car just stops? Congratulations, now you're dead, and whoever was behind you is dead as well."
"I doubt it," Thomas replied. "Either we can't, or we can. It wouldn't go that far and then stop."
"And if you're wrong?"
"I'm not."
Virgil frowned and than groaned. "Fine," he snapped, "but don't blame me if you die."
"I won't." Thomas rolled his eyes a bit at Virgil, and then left the room, at last, to get ready. The room was tense for a moment, everyone quiet, before Patton suddenly moved forwards, grasping Logan's hand, who jumped a bit at the touch.
"C'mon Logan!" Patton said, tugging Logan towards the kitchen. "We shall take the kitchen, and you guys can have the living room!" The pair vanished into the kitchen, leaving Virgil and Roman to sort of just stand there, giving each other looks.
Virgil slumped down a bit, biting his lips and averting his eyes. Great. This was going to go terribly, he could already tell. Despite the entire 'anxiety acceptance' thing, Roman and he couldn't stop butting heads. Of course, they were both aware at this point the other was necessary, but that didn't mean it made it easier!
"Well," Roman said after a moment, a sort of fake 'getting along' tone in his voice, "let's get started, shall we?"
Virgil nodded. This next while was going to be, simply put, terrible.
"It's two cups flour, one tablespoon of baking soda, another tablespoon of baking powder, and half a tablespoon of salt," Logan read from the recipe book. Patton nodded, putting all those ingredients in the first bowl.
"Mix it and then set it aside," Logan continued, leaving Patton to grab a whisk. He watched Patton carefully as the cheerful trait quickly mixed it all up until it was all blended nicely.
Patton looked up at Logan, eyes bright. "Did I do it right?" he asked, his turning even brighter when Logan nodded. "Now what?"
"Set that bowl aside," Logan continued, Patton doing so, "and take out another. This time we need... two eggs, two cups of sugar, one cup of buttermilk, half a cup of oil, and two tablespoons of vanilla. Then whisk."
Patton nodded, adding them all. He accidentally got a bit of shell, but Logan instructed him on how to pull it out, which Patton did so quickly. "Do you want to whisk?" Patton asked, offering him to whisk this time.
"What are you two doing?" Patton and Logan looked up. Virgil was the one who had spoken. He was standing with Roman at the entrance to the kitchen, both carefully not looking at each other. Well, they were both looking at Patton and Logan, Virgil looked rather pissed off and Roman just looking hurt.
"You're making a cake? Without us?" Roman questioned.
Patton's eyes went wide. "What? Oh- I'm so sorry Roman! I should have asked if you two wanted to join us!"
"That's not the point!" Virgil threw his hands into the air, looking frustrated. "I just spent what felt like an eternity with the pampered prince working on how to get us out of here and back into Thomas's head, which is what we're supposed to be doing, and you two are making a cake? What even is this? I mean, I can understand Patton, but you were supposed to keep him in order Logic!"
Logan paused, frowning, and suddenly looked rather bothered. Turning to look at Patton, his frown grew. After a moment, he said, "manipulative," which made Patton blush.
"How exactly did Patton 'manipulate' you?" Virgil snapped, crossing his arms.
Roman stepped away from him, more into the kitchen, turning to glare at the darker trait. "Now, we're stuck out here, and we don't have any idea how to get back," he snapped, "we can only wait until we get a clue, and until then, we should keep our hopes up! The idea of making a cake is marvelous."
("Never give me those eyes again," Logan hissed in the background to Patton.)
"A marvelous waste of time," Virgil hissed back.
Roman decided after a moment to ignore him for once, not willing to give him the satisfaction. "Can I help?" you said instead, fixing his gaze to Patton, leaving Virgil to gape.
Patton nodded, holding the whisk up. "Do you want to whisk?" he questioned, blinking innocently. "Logan doesn't want to!" Roman accepted to whisk and started to stir the bowl, still looking incredibly prince like and dignified.
Virgil clenched his fist and spun to storm off, and then suddenly Patton popped up by him, grabbing onto his arm. Virgil stiffened, fighting the urge to throw him off, only relaxing a bit when Patton quickly let go. "What?" he growled.
"Want to help?"
"No I don't want to-" Virgil cut himself off when he looked at Patton. Patton was giving him the wounded puppy dog look, eyes wide and sad.
Blinking, Patton's eyes seemed to get even sadder. "What if you just sit and watch?" he asked. "You can be in charge of safety because you're good at that!"
Good at that? Most people just got upset at him, since he worried too much. It wasn't like he could help it though- he was anxiety. They continued staring at each other, and then Virgil walked over to the counter, sitting up on it and crossing his arms.
There was a moment of silence.
"Is this good?" Roman asked, holding his bowl up.
Logan peered into it and nodded. "Now, we need one last bowl, a small one, and in it I want you to put three-fourths a cup of cocoa powder three-fourths a cup of coffee..."
And so, Thomas's words forgotten, the four traits worked on their cake.
Cake: en/recipes/6151-the-i-best-best-i-chocolate-cake. I also want to make it clear this story will have a lot of bonding/'filler'/etc, and the main plot will be a bit of a side thing, but it will have an ending.