Patton's POV

I found this really interesting show while channel surfing the other day. My cookies were in the oven and everyone was doing something with Thomas that I couldn't exactly remember, so I wanted to find some way to kill time. While channel surfing, I came across some show that consisted of a little girl and a puppet that looked like a pirate. It seemed like an old show, but it still intrigued me.

After a good while it watching an episode of this show, the timer went off to tell me that the cookies were done. As I opened the oven, I thought back to the pirate ship telling one of the puppets "You have...to go...inside" since I had to reach in the oven to get the cookies.

For the rest of the day, I thought about that show. I paid attention to the channel, but I didn't catch the name of the show. So, after I finished checking that everyone went to bed (it was easier getting Roman to bed than getting Logan or my dark strange son to bed), I went to my room and searched on my phone to see if I could find that show. I looked up "little girl and pirate puppets" and, after scrolling through crafting results, one result stuck out: Candle Cove. I didn't click on the result, but I knew the name Candle Cove was the name of a place on the show, so I felt that must be it.

For several days, at the time I was sure Candle Cove would be playing, I would make sure no one was else was in the room before I could watch it. At least one of them (usually Logan) would usually get annoyed by the kid shows they'd catch me watching; I'm the emotional core, so of course I'd recognize the annoyance. As I watched the show a little more, I thought to myself that once you go past the puppet designs, it's not so bad. Guess the only other strings to hold them down were the strings of the budget.

Roman's POV

I was in the Imagination and heading back to the Mindspace. I just finished saving a genderless damsal from another Dragonwitch and wasn't in that big of a hurry to get back home, so I just strolled my way back.

As I was walking, though, I caught a glimpse of Patton in some kind of giant boat on the ground. As I got closer, I noticed that the giant boat had a face on it and Patton was in an outfit that made him look like a pirate.

"Someone is approaching, Pirate Patton!" the ship seemed to say.

I saw Patton materialize a telescope and point it towards me.

"Argh! He's no threat, Laughingstock! That be a personified treasure: Prince Roman!" he shouted.

After feeling flattered that he called me "personified treasure," he lowered an anchor and slid down its rope.

"Ahoy, Roman." Patton greeted.

"So, what got you into the pirate business?"

"Well, if Pirate Percy is too scared to do it, someone has to move their booty to gather some booty"

"Pirate Percy?"

"Oh, from this show Candle Cove. He's the lovable coward, like Piglet." Patton giggled.

"Hmm, when does this Candle Cove come on?"

Patton looked down at his watch and grabbed my hand before we were teleported back to the Mindspace. He sat me down on the couch next to him and turned on the TV before he changed to channel to a channel that consisted of static. He looked pretty excited while looking at the TV, so I didn't point out the static. Occasionally, he'd point me to the TV and talk about characters such as Janice, Pirate Percy, and the Laughingstock (whom I can imagine looked like the ship I saw in the Imagination).

After Patton turned off the TV, he turned to me.

"What did you think?" he asked me.

"Well, it's certainly...different from what I'm used to watching," I claimed.

"It's definitely old, maybe even as old as Captain Hook. I was a bit curious when I stumbled upon it, but don't worry, Roman. After a few more watches, you'll get used to it, I mean, if you want to."

I looked at Patton for a good while. He had a big smile on his face at the thought.

"Sure, you can teach me more about the show and we can even play pirate," I told him. It's clear that he wants to share this world, whatever it was, with someone else, so I didn't want to take that away from him.

He hugged me with enthusiasm and went back to his room. I looked around to see if I could find Logan. If anyone could break the news to Patton was watching nothing but static without hesitating, it's our residential MatPat-wannabe.

Logan POV

I was working on listing details for what to count on for Thomas's video ideas. So far, I listed that Kenny had a family event during one of the filming days and Camden would need to update his editing software.

I heard a knock on my door. When I got up to open it, I noticed that Roman was on the other side of the threshold.

"What is it, Roman?" I asked.

"Um, I need your opinion on something. What if you have a friend who is hooked on a TV show and-"

"You remind them that they have responsibilities in the real world. Maybe make connections between their real-world responsibilities and details in the show if you have to," I told him since Thomas has gone down that route more times than I wish.

"You know what? If I knew you were going to make an ass out of you and me, I wouldn't have come to you for help," Roman started to leave, but I headed after him once I made sense out of his "make an ass out of you and me" remark.

"Apologies for making assumptions, Roman. Please continue," I invited.

I honestly expected him to be "petty" and be silent about it, but he just said, "The friend is hooked on the TV show, but when he tried introducing it to me, he saw something and I only saw static". It didn't sound like it made sense, which are the kind of problems that infuriate me.

"Imagination is your forte. Why are you turning to me for help?" I asked.

"Brendon Fury wouldn't know what to do without being sarcastic, Patton is the friend in question, and you're good bringing people down to Earth without remorse," he responded.

The annoyance of how he addressed me aside, I was intrigued with the sound of this issue and wanted to witness it for myself.

"When does Patton watch this 'show?' Are you sure it's not a one-time incident?" I asked.

"Logan, he was in the Imagination playing pirate on a giant ship he claimed was based on what he saw in the show. And he was explaining certain characters to me that he can clearly identify. I doubt he can do that if it was a one-time thing," he assured me.

The next day, Roman summoned me to the kitchen close to the time he said this "show" came on. We acted like we were busy once Patton entered the common room. He turned on the TV and turned it onto a channel that had nothing but dead air and static.

"See? I told you," Roman whispered to me.

"Wait a minute, Roman. Maybe the reception might clear up and we might know what he sees," I claimed.

After about half an hour, though, no images were showing on the TV; just the static. However, earlier on, he expressed body language that didn't seem like the kind one demonstrates when they are happy. Roman led me to Patton and he looked over at us with a smile.

"Ahoy, gay-teys. The TV's all yours," he told us.

"That's good. Um, how was Candle Cove today?" Roman asked.

"It was...decent. At least until it got to one point when the crew encountered Horace Horrible and the Skin Taker," Patton explained, but shivered as he mentioned this "Skin-Taker" character.

"What did they look like, Patton?" I asked. I didn't feel ready to bring up the static yet.

"Horace Horrible was another pirate puppet, but more...sinister, I guess. As for the Skin-Taker, he's a thin skeleton with a cape of multiple colors and a top hat. His jaw seemed pretty loose, too. And when he was asked why his jaw was like that, he looked toward the camera and said 'to grind your skin.'"

This seemed a bit odd to me. Patton wasn't as fond of disturbing imagery as Virgil was, so even if nothing was on the TV, there was no way Patton could've willingly imagined something that would make him feel uncomfortable.

"Patton, when did you find out about Candle Cove?" I asked him.

"I was channel surfing days ago and came across the show. I tried finding the title online and scrolled through Google till I found it," he explained.

"Did you click on the link?" Roman asked.

"I didn't. Didn't feel like I need to," he concluded.

Roman and I walked away toward our rooms.

"When are you going to tell him about the static?" Roman asked.

"After I do more research. Unless it's a practical joke, at least one other person might have known about this for him to find out about the title," I explained.

I had some more work to do, so I needed to wait a while before I look into the show a little more.

The next day came and Thomas' only plans were to be lazy with his friends, so I had plenty of time to dig deeper into this Candle Cove thing. I looked up the title on my phone and I came across some results that were just debates (as much as I love a good debate, now wasn't the time). Eventually, I DID find a result that seemed different: it was a link to a forum. When I clicked on it, I saw it was a screenshot of a forum followed by a description that explained that the person whom took the screenshot caught it before the forum was deleted.

I looked over the forum; it consisted of four people talking about Candle Cove. The way they described the characters and premise seemed to match what Patton told Roman and I. I chuckled a little at the four feeling nostalgic. However, there was a part of the forum when they brought up an episode that consisted of nothing but the characters screaming and the little girl crying. The episode was said to cause the four to have nightmares. What seemed really surprising, though, was the end of the forum: one of the people in the forum mentioned bringing the show up to their mom and her telling them that they were watching static the whole time.

I was surprised by what I read and took some time to think. It would make sense for Patton to be the only one to see it since he was the inner child. As far as I knew, the 'episodes' weren't playing consecutively, so that screaming episode could happen at any moment. I looked at my door while wanting to keep Patton from watching the episode with the screaming.

Virgil POV

I was watching a bit of Rob Dyke's videos on my phone. However, something compelled me to stop and leave my room. I recognized that feeling: either Thomas or someone else was feeling anxious. I left my room and approached the common room where I came across Patton hugging his knees and with dark eyeshadow under his eyes.

I looked at the TV and saw it had static. I turned off the TV and carefully approached Patton.

"Patton?" I called.

He noticed me and hugged me. I rubbed his back as he sobbed in my shoulder.

"It's okay, Patton. Tell me what's wrong," I told him.

"E-everyone in Candle Cove was screaming. I thought there was some kind of danger," he told me in between sobs.

I was surprised to say the least; I always thought Candle Cove was just a legend. I teleported to Patton's room and slowly let go of him to get his Winnie-the-Pooh plushie. I handed him the bear and rubbed his back.

"Th-thank you, kiddo," he said to me.

"Whatever made them scream won't harm you," I told him.

I saw the door open to reveal Logan coming in and Roman right behind him.

"Did he see...?" Logan started.

"The screaming episode. Yes," I answered.

Roman looked at me.

"How do you know about Candle Cove?" the Prince asked.

"I came across the urban legend. I didn't think it was until Patton freaked out," I explained.

Patton looked around at all of us with eyeshadow still under his bloodshot eyes.

"Urban legend?" He questioned.

Logan approached Patton and showed him something on his phone. It seemed like the forum about the show. The eyeshadow slowly left his eyes, but he was still frowning.

"I was watching static the whole time," he said to himself.

"We're sorry, Hufflepuff. You seemed so excited about this show, we didn't know how to tell you," Roman told him.

He summoned a small golden retriever and handed it to Patton.

He gave a small smile to the pup and said, "'Ey, you."

I noticed Logan's eyes widen at the remark and smile a little before covering his mouth. I knew he appreciated Patton's clever puns deep down.

Roman sat on the other side of Patton and said, "Tell you what? We'll go to the Imagination, turn the Laughingstock into the Jolly Roger and all sail to Neverland, okay?"

Patton smiled at Roman and nodded. We all got up and walked to the Imagination with Patton. As much as I like being in my room, I knew all of us spending time with Patton would be better; whatever it takes to help keep his mind off of Candle Cove.