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Considering the way that his conversation with Logan made him feel, Janus had been hoping that Virgil wouldn't remember his offer to help him. This was, of course, a silly hope to entertain when Virgil had already forced him to accept Logan's help, and Virgil was, well, Virgil. He didn't really just forget things, seeing as forgetting things could land Thomas into bad situations.
And sure enough, he found Virgil knocking on his door.
"Hello, Virgil."
"Hey, Jan. Ready to talk?"
He sighed.
"You know I don't want to."
Virgil shrugged.
"Yeah. But I think we gotta, you know?"
Janus let him into the room with another sigh.
"I feel as though all I do now is have 'serious discussions' with you all," Janus half-joked. "Whatever happened to villainous monologuing and pretending I'm not a dumpster fire?"
"Are you trying to overthrow me as the resident emo?" Virgil questioned.
"I'm too classy to be an emo, Virgil."
"Keep telling yourself that, you dork."
"Do I need to remind you of what Remus would say if he were here?"
"... No. Anyway," Virgil started, changing the subject. "I don't want to get distracted. I'm not going to go on a super long rant like Logan or anything, so let's just get this over with, yeah?"
"Fine," Janus agreed with an eye-roll.
"Actually, I kinda just wrote a list of a few things that sort of help? Just in case you forget or something, I don't know," said the anxious side as he handed Janus a piece of paper. "It probably won't help very much; I mean, I'm me, and lists aren't really my thing, but I figured you can just use it as a reference to look back on. I don't know."
Janus looked down and began reading the sheet:
Mindfulness/Letting thoughts go (think 'Here Comes a Thought' from SU)
Using Logic to figure out if your worries are rational or not (DON'T tell Logan I wrote this)
Spending time with others (AKA, don't be a hermit)
Relaxation/Meditation (Also, #SelfCare)
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (Kinda weird but might help idk)
Breathing Exercises (Esp. If you're having a panic attack)
Actual Exercise (Pretend you're literally running away from your feelings)
Ice pack. (Put it on your forehead or something. There's some sciencey reason why, but I'm not getting into that)
Go through your thoughts with a Hexaflex diagram (Google it)
If a worry can't be resolved: Healthy Distractions (Keep your brain occupied)
I a worry CAN be resolved: Take Steps to resolve it (even if you can't completely resolve it)
~Therapy~ (Seriously.)
"Therapy, Virgil?"
"I mean, yeah?" Virgil replied. "Honestly, that's more what I wanted to talk to you about. Like, I can list off a few techniques to cope with anxious thoughts and shit, and maybe I can explain some of them, but I'm not exactly qualified to treat stuff. I just know some of this since, well."
Virgil gestured at himself.
"And I know more about anxiety, not… well, skin picking or OCD or anything like that. So, I think it would be better if you talked to a therapist or something?" He explained.
"... You want me to go to Dr. Picani, don't you?" Janus asked.
Virgil shrugged.
"I mean, I talk to him sometimes."
"Virgil, he's one of Thomas's characters. He should only know whatever information Thomas knows," Janus pointed out. "So he might not be able to help, either."
"Yeah, well, actually…," Virgil said awkwardly. "Thomas kinda knows some stuff now. Logan had him do research. I mean, how do you think Logan knew all the stuff he told you?"
At that, Janus felt his blood run cold.
"Wait, did you all tell Thomas?!"
Virgil put up his hands in a placating manner.
"Chill, Jan. We didn't tell him. Logan pretty much just made him really curious about it so he would research it," the side told him.
Janus took in a deep breath before letting it out in a huff.
"Look, I'm not gonna drag you to Picani's office. Just think about it, okay?" Virgil requested.
"I'll… consider it."
"You're not lying, are you?" Virgil questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not," Janus insisted. "I'll consider it. That doesn't mean I'll do it."
Virgil nodded.
"That's fair. I do think it could help, though."
Silently, Janus doubted that he would end up accepting Virgil's suggestion. It was hard enough having to talk about this with the others, and he wasn't sure he would have ever told them if he hadn't been forced to by his own clumsiness. How was he supposed to talk about it with Emile? He didn't think he'd ever even had an actual conversation with the man before. Sure, he'd observed him in the past, and he'd watched Thomas's Cartoon Therapy videos, but as far as actually interacting with the character, Janus had more-or-less avoided Picani like the plague. He'd been afraid that the therapist would somehow be able to figure out what he was doing, the things he felt and how he dealt with them, and he had wanted to avoid that. But, well, he supposed that, if he went to Picani for treatment, the man would need to know what he was treating anyway.
He would... think about it, at least.
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