(Untitled)

[guppy_sandhu]

After a well deserved sleep (about twenty hours once he got going) Guppy is looking somewhat more refreshed and perky today than he has been.

Right now he's by the infirmary, filling in an inane item of paperwork and eating a banana.

The doctor is in

Comments

[stuck_mynock]

Atton is looking rather less perky than he usually does.

He's abnormally pale and sickly looking, there's a tartan blanket wrapped around his shoulders and he's shivering. There are bruises, just beginning to fade, on him, and several shallow cuts, healed over but still visible. He also seems to be a little bit unsteady on his feet, which is why he sits down, quickly.

"Yo."

[stuck_mynock]

"I want to. Kriff, Guppy, you're my brother, I'm not just going t'stop looking out for you just because I'm ill. Especially when I'm the one that upset you," Atton frowns. "So, are y'going t'tell me what's wrong, or are y'just going t'leave me knowing it's my fault and unable t'help?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"It's not your fault." Guppy says, looking at the table. "There's just a lot of stuff in my head that I can't put away, and going in my head to tie it down would only be a temporary solution, it's just a symptom of the problem."

He fidgets. "The counsellor work made me go to keeps trying to get me to go on sick leave because I let slip that I'd started having panic attacks again and I have a non-existant sleep pattern. Only got sleep two nights ago because I was so exhausted I collapsed."

[stuck_mynock]

Atton doesn't really know what to say to that.

But he winces, a lot.

[guppy_sandhu]

He fidgets.

"She doesn't get it. When I went though all of this before it was in here. I know the signs, I know the symptoms. I know I've had PTSD that's hard to shake off for a long time. But I also know that the first time around my symptoms were ten times worse than this, and that this time I know how to get a hold on them quicker. I've worked through them for over a year. I don't need sick leave."

[stuck_mynock]

"Doesn't mean it's a bad idea. If it's best for you to keep working, then just ignore her and do that. But if it'll help to take sick leave, even if y'don't really need it, then why not consider it?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"Because the counsellor won't discuss what I say unless I come out with something that would make me professionally dangerous. If I take sick leave, that means I have to tell Selena, who's my temporary mentor, I've been worse than she thinks I have. I don't know how much of this stuff goes on my record and I don't want to end up unemployable over something I can probably handle."

[stuck_mynock]

"Probably," Atton echoes. "But okay, I see your point."

[guppy_sandhu]

He fidgets and looks at the table.

[stuck_mynock]

Atton frowns, for a moment, before shrugging, leaning back and pulling a half empty bottle of something vaguely resembling rum from his pocket and taking a long drink from it.

"Subject change?" He says eventually. "Apparently m'friends who got pregnant - Erm, only one of them, that is. The female one - are having twins."

[guppy_sandhu]

After a hesitation, and suspecting he'll get yelled for it, Guppy does the same. The fact that he has to break the seal to open the bottle confirms that he didn't have any at work.

"Well, congratulations to them."

[stuck_mynock]

Atton snorts.
"Yeah. One of them wants me t'be the godfather. Don't know what the other thinks."

He eyes Guppy, a little worriedly.
"I thought you didn't drink. Unless it was t'get drunk so that y'could sleep, or something." Flatly.

[guppy_sandhu]

He takes another swig of the bottle.

"I think you'd make a good godfather."

[stuck_mynock]

"There a particular reason you're drinking?" Atton says, a little more sharply. "Y'looked fairly refreshed, when I came over. Good, even."

[guppy_sandhu]

He looks away. The flashback flares again, a fist, a feeling of being trapped in his own head, a leap over the balcony...

And he hates it. He knows he can control it, he's done it before. He swigs the bottle, just edging it back, making it a little easier. Mind over matter.

"It's okay." he says quietly.

[stuck_mynock]

"No, it isn't," Atton scowls. "And it's my fault, again." Atton downs more of the whiskey, almost draining the bottle.