Patton was sweet. Virgil was sour. Janus was salty. Roman was umami. Remus was oleogustus. And Logan. Logan found that he was bitter. Bitter was most well known to animals as the taste of yuck don't eat that or you'll die. Animals are naturally inclined to prefer sweet and salt. Umami and oleogustus were a big part of many cultures, though they weren't for everyone. Many folks enjoy sour. But bitter. No one likes bitter. Only the rare fool with no inkling of self preservation. That's the way Logan saw it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was one such fool.
"Logie! Lolo! Where are you hiding?!" Remus burst into the common area.
"I'm right here, Remus." Logan responded from the couch.
"Ah! Look what I made!"
Logan looked up from the book he was reading. Remus had a small, round, likely amphibian creature in his hands which was being thrust very close to Logan's face. Once he was able to focus on what was in front of him, he found it was actually kind of-
"Skreeeeeeeeee!" The creature let out an ear splitting screech.
"It's rather loud."
"That's what I was going for! Since you told me about how the vibrations work in bigger and smaller instruments I wanted to see how high pitched I could get a creature to be."
Despite himself Logan smiled fondly with a slight blush. "I'm happy I could be of some service."
"These get real big too. The adults have screams so low pitched you'll pee yourself."
They heard footsteps come down the stairs.
"What the hell was that?!" Virgil stopped to yell at them as soon as they were in view.
"Joy was just saying hi to her new friend."
"Ugh. What is that thing? Put it back where it came from, or better yet, put it through a blender. It would be less obnoxious that way."
"Now, Virgil, that's not very nice. Why don't you go lay down and I'll get you some water," Patton implored, having come out of the kitchen when he heard yelling.
"Yeah, ok." Virgil turned himself around and went back up to presumably his room.
"He has a headache," Patton explained. "Maybe you two should go somewhere else."
Logan, noticing the hurt Remus was desperately trying to cover, decided to speak up. "Why don't you take me to meet Joy's mom?"
Remus lit up. "Ok!"
He grabbed Logan's hand and all but dragged him to his side of the imagination. It had more monsters and dangerous creatures, but Logan still felt safer there than anywhere else. Remus's creations would never hurt him, unlike some of the other creatures around the mindscape. Maybe that was a bit harsh, though. They hadn't meant to after all, right?
On their way Remus unsurprisingly got distracted.
"Oh these are Joy's favorite here, try one."
"And I won't die from this?" Logan took a fruit from Remus's hand.
"Joy didn't."
"Right, well, 'cheers to that' I suppose… They're… interesting." Interesting being code for what did I just put in my mouth because it was not good.
"I thought so- Oh! Do you feel that?"
The ground and trees around them shook, just enough to be noticed. "Is that an earthquake?"
"Nope! That's Momma. Let's go!"
And go they did. Remus was correct in stating that the creatures got rather large, but he had neglected to mention that large meant a sphere as tall as a six story building. Joy did a happy roll and screeched. Remus snapped before Momma replied and placed earplugs in both of their ears. Their whole bodies and everything else around them trembled.
"Fascinating."
"What?!"
"Nothing!"
"What?!"
Logan just shook his head.
Remus set Joy down and they watched as she hopped closer to her mother. They seemed to greet each other with their cries. Remus tried to speak to Logan again, but that clearly wasn't going to work, so he led Logan far enough away that while they could still hear his newest creations, they could also easily hear each other without getting a headache. Because if Logan got a headache, he would have to leave.
"So what do you think?!"
"They are quite fascinating. Joy eats berries, but what does her mother eat?"
"The giant wasps."
"The giant wasps?" Logan blinked.
"Oh, yeah. Super venomous. They really needed a predator to keep their numbers down."
"Well one that grows to be that large is a good choice, I think. Due to its size and diet, it is likely to keep its own population in check through environmental stressors such as competing for food and how it spends its energy. I believe it would fill a niche similar to a whale in the ocean. The vibrations it creates are likely helpful for disabling prey, though I'm sure particularly determined giant wasps could get through to a still large but smaller specimen in a relationship similar to mongoose and cobras. Though I have to wonder what the young get out of eating berries. It doesn't seem like it makes sense for the amount of energy they need to grow so big."
"Ah, I see what you mean. These berries aren't normal berries!" Remus grinned at him in a way that made him think maybe he really shouldn't have tried one. "They're made of flesh!"
"Huh." Logan gagged a bit, eye twitching. "That's very… interesting."
"You said."
"With as realistic as some of your creations are, I tend to forget that creativity need not be bound by the rules of Thomas's world."
"Mm. I think the realistic stuff can be more fun, but meat berries are a classic for horror!"
A classic, huh? Logan was pretty sure that wasn't exactly the case, but having things that normally weren't made of flesh be made out of it did tend to be a somewhat common occurrence, usually to symbolize one thing or another, so maybe it was somewhat the case.
"But I think Thomas and the others might actually appreciate this one. Since it's cute and all," Remus admitted.
"At the very least I appreciate it. Virgil probably would have thought it was funny if he didn't have a headache."
"You don't have to do that, Logan."
"Do what?"
"Pretend like the others care about the things I make. I know they'd all prefer if I would just… disappear. Maybe not Janus, but I do tend to make things difficult for him."
For Remus to actually be saying something, it must really be bothering him. While he did usually spout any and every thought that came into his head, he usually refused to show weakness. Not that wanting to be accepted or appreciated and feeling bad when you weren't made you weak.
"Regardless of whether or not they want you to disappear, which I would argue they don't, you can't. You are essential to Thomas. We all are. Even if our contributions aren't always appreciated."
"Our contributions?"
"Ah, I misspoke. I meant your contributions, of course."
"Yeah, I'm not buying it. You can't get out of your Freudian slip that easily."
"Freud was a hack."
"Gee, Logan, tell me how you really feel. But you should know by now I already know how you feel. They never pay attention to you, do they?"
"Whether or not any of you do, is irrelevant. It is only important that Thomas heeds my advice."
"Any of us?"
"Any of you."
"Logan, I am sorry about that."
"What?"
"When I kept trying to shut you up. I was afraid that if you helped Thomas out of it too quickly, I wouldn't make an impact. And I didn't want to go back to being shoved away in a box like a kitten on the side of the road when it's raining, doomed to death by starvation, illness, or a rogue Prius."
"Ah, um, ahem, well… Apology accepted. And for the record, I wouldn't have allowed that to happen. It's high time Thomas stop repressing parts of himself. It's unhealthy."
"Of course… For Thomas…" The duke fell quiet and turned to face away from Logan.
"That is how I felt then. Now that we've spent more time together…"
Remus looked back, hopeful.
"I have come to appreciate your company and enjoy the thought exercises you present me with. If I didn't want you around I would hardly go out of my way to spend time with you."
"For the record, I enjoy spending time with you as well. And not because you're the only one who will entertain my deranged ideas, though that helps. You make me want to be smart, too. And feel like I can. I could learn so much about real world accurate zombies or mutants or zombie mutants that tear your face clean off like a pet monkey, or I can learn how to create a creature that oozes acidic slime strong enough to melt bones!"
"You could have done that before."
"But I didn't think I could, and with creativity, that's half the battle."
"Janus never encouraged you?"
"Not like this. In his own way, sure, but not like this."
"I'm glad, then, that I could do this for you."
"You're worth more than what you can do for others, you know."
"What? I don't- I mean our literal functions are-"
"What would you say to Virgil or Patton or Roman, hmm? That they are only as valuable as the services they can provide everyone else?"
"Of course not, I… I see your point."
"You can if you want to."
"What?"
"What?"
… Probably an innuendo and he didn't want to know. "Thank you for… comforting? Erm, correcting me."
"I can comfort you anytime, and if you wanted to comfort me, you could start by taking off your shirt."
"I'm not doing that."
"The tie can stay on! In fact-"
"Not happening."
"Awww. Fine, but can you come help me with my ooze monster? I was serious about that."
"I'd be delighted to."