Virgil was exhausted. Thomas was about to audition for Shrek the Musical, so his anxiety had been awful. Remy refused to even come close Virgil, while graciously blessing their host with a few hours of shut-eye. This wasn't anything new, as Sleep always avoided Virgil like the plague, but Virgil had been awake for 289 consecutive hours (about a week and a half), and Remy usually caved and gave him at least a nap by now. Sides didn't technically need sleep to live, and could outlast their host easily, but they reacted similarly to sleep deprived people when they didn't rest.

And Virgil hadn't been resting. Of course he had tried, but any attempts at sleep were in vain, and led to his thoughts spiraling out of control. He'd experienced a few anxiety attacks because of this, which drained him even more, and decided it wasn't worth it. So he tried to keep busy-sketching characters from his favorite show, painting his ukulele with a space theme (with a hidden TARDIS cause it made him happy), playing Twenty Øne Piløts on said ukulele, and drinking an unhealthy amount of Mountain Dew Code Red. He couldn't shake the exhaustion.

It came to a climax the afternoon before the audition. Thomas was practicing in front of his main Sides. Logan was in charge of playing the backing tracks, and the others were there to give feedback. The theatre company had asked all male auditioners to prepare certain parts of "Who I'd Be", "What's up Duloc?", and "Don't Let Me Go", and at the Audition they would ask for one piece randomly. This was a tad unorthodox, and Thomas had been stressing over it for weeks. He had Donkey and Shrek's numbers down pretty well, but Farquaad's kept tripping him up.

"Of course I'd be a hero, and I would scale a tower and save a hothouse flower, and carry her away. But standing guard would be a beast, I'd somehow overwhelm it! I'd get the girl, I'd take my breath, and I'd remove my helmet," Thomas took a deep breath with a grin. "We'd stand and stare, we'd speak of love, we'd feel the stars ascending! We'd share a kiss, I'd find my destiny. I'd have a hero's ending, a perfect happy ending! That's how it would be-A big bright beautiful world!" Thomas allowed his face to fall. "But not for me."

Roman applauded rambunctiously. Shrek was one of his favorite Musicals, for obvious reasons. "It was amazing Thomas! The emotion! The power!"

Thomas blushed and thanked him. He took a moment to get into a new character, then flashed a huge grin as Logan hit play.

"Don't speak, don't speak, don't speak! Just hear me out! I might surprise you. I'll be a friend, when others despise you. Don't roll your eyes! Stop with the mopin'. You need a pal! My calendar's open! I'll bring you soup, when you feel congested! I'll bail you out, when you get arrested! I got your back," Thomas let out a high pitched, loud "Hiya!" here, and Virgil jumped a little. "When things get scary, and I'll shave it, when it gets hairy! Don't let me go! Don't let me go! Don't let me go! You need me! You need me!"

This time, Patton had the loudest applause. This was his favorite song from Shrek, and in his opinion, Thomas had nailed Donkey's bubbly character.

Thomas looked a little nervous about the last song, but got into character as best he could.

"Once upon a time, this place was infested. Freaks on every corner, I had them all arrested...um...oh!...nonny no! If you had a quirk you didn't pass inspections. We all have our standards, but I will have perfection. And so, and soooooooooooooooo." Thomas winced a little as he slid down a bit too low and ended up flat. "Things are looking up here in Duloc. Things are...um…up here in Duloc! A model that amazes, a plan with seven phases! Things I'm cooking up here...shoot." Thomas finished miserably.

"What if that's the one they ask you to sing Thomas?" Virgil asked. There was a lot of fog in his head, but he knew Thomas had botched the song. "It will be worthless to audition if you don't know the one song they want you to know. And if you fail this one, what's to stop you from failing again, and again, and…"

"Ugh, shut up Puss-in-Moods!" Roman groaned. "He just has to fine tune a couple sections. Most of it sounded great, there was only a few word mishaps and one wrong note."

"But what if…" Virgil tried. He wanted to defend himself, but the fog in his head was buzzing now. A low, painful vibration starting at the base of his skull and winding up until it rammed right behind his eyes.

"Nobody wants you to bring Thomas down like this Virgil!" Roman snapped, glaring at the younger Trait. Virgil paled. He hadn't meant to drag them down, but he was so tired and his filter was patchy as is.

Roman looked apologetic, obviously sorry he'd lashed out, but Virgil didn't want to hear it. He stood, about to leave. But it was too fast, and the buzzing became a roar and his eyesight tinged red and the fog was clouding his head and he couldn't hear anything, and...

Suddenly he was on the ground. Hands were touching his arms, his face. But he couldn't move. He couldn't even open his eyes. The roar began to dim a little, and he caught snatches of the conversations that floated above him.

"...at happened?...to fast?"

"...not even...makeup!"

"...dark circles...tired…"

"...last time he slept?...overworked…"

Virgil groaned, forcing his eyes open. Patton was a few inches from his face, completely out of focus. Roman was similarly fuzzy on his other side. Thomas was panicking a little, while Logan led him through a breathing exercise.

"Virgil, honey?" Patton asked quietly. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Um…" Virgil tried to remember. "A week ago, maybe two?" He'd honestly lost track after 300 straight hours of insomnia.

"I'm going to punch Remy in the face next time I see him." The line came, not from Roman as expected, but from Logan. Virgil was flabbergasted, and the way Patton and Roman stiffened, they were just as shocked.

"I''ll, um, summon him?" Thomas said. "Not so you can punch him or anything, but Virge obviously needs some rest."

Virgil saw Roman nod viciously before he was scooped up in his arms. The creative trait gently set him on the couch while Patton grabbed him a blanket. Remy appeared a few moments later.

"Wassup gurls?" he nearly shouted, and Virgil flinched. Patton and Thomas had to hold Roman and Logan back from attacking the Sleep trait.

Through clenched teeth, Logan hissed "Let Virgil rest. He has been working overtime with the audition, and you have been a bi…"

"Not very nice!" Patton squeaked over Logan's curse word.

Remy wrinkled his nose, and Virgil felt his heart sink. He wasn't going to help him. He hated him. But Remy sighed dramatically and snapped his fingers, and Virgil immediately welcomed the darkness.

This is definitely not me projecting my insomnia and stress onto Virgil. Nope.

Lol, it totally is. I'm doing Shrek right now, and its madly stressful cause on top of me acting in it, the director also put me in charge of the Prop committee, so I have to worry about all the props and my solos. I haven't slept in ages.

Sorry this is late...and random…

RN