kukkijar | Teddy Altman ; APPOINTMENTS

Teddy Altman ; APPOINTMENTS

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[Listening to what he says, thinking through answers, calms her down a little more. She still has little breathing hiccups every so often, but she is unlikely to cry again any time soon.]

I know all of those things, I promise I know them, but when things like this happen... [She can't just fall apart all the time. It is perfectly fine for anyone else to do it, though, if they need to, and she knows the double standard doesn't seem fair but it comes with the job. Mia closes her eyes and puts one hand over them, lowering her head. She can feel her words slurring at the edges, slowed from fainting and exhaustion, and trying to make herself understood when her thoughts are just as slurred is like trudging up a mountain. If Teddy offers even the slightest inclination that it will be okay to do so, Mia will lean right back into him.]

Things like what? War? Seeing people die in front of you? Crying because of it?

[Teddy lets out a small sigh as he wraps an arm around her shoulder to pull her to him again. It's definitely okay for her to lean on him; in fact, he's encouraging it. It's tempting to relate, to say that people died on his watch too... but he knows she'd try to turn it around and talk him through it instead, and right now, this isn't about him.]

It's okay to cry. God knows I'm bad at remembering it, too. Doctors can cry, healers can cry. It's a good way to let everyone else know they're not... desensitized or whatever to it. And themselves, too.

Most of all? It's okay to cry in front of me. I'm not gonna think less of you just because you showed me something that makes you feel... I don't know, inadequate. Because you're definitely adequate, and more than that, to me.

Edited 2014-06-27 01:10 (UTC)

[Mia cannot remember the last time she felt so...comforted. It has been a while, an impossibly long while. The snowy fog in her head continues to clear, a bit faster with each minute that passes. Opening and closing her hands as the last of the pins-and-needles feeling disappears, Mia finally lifts her head again. She does not wear a smile, but she looks relieved enough that it might almost be one.]

We're not supposed to cry in front of people, because they depend on us to believe everything will be all right. To not worry and not be afraid. When that bomb went off- [In her mind, one hand reaches to grasp someone's shirt, tight, while she whispers how sorry she is and holds her breath; in the present, that breath hitches, and the echo of nothingness makes her shiver.] I didn't know what to do afterward. I have never been so afraid, even when we were going to face Alex.

[Her voice catches on a dry and worn throat, but after a solid cough she shakes her head.] Maybe I have forgotten...how to be a friend, like this.

[At first, Teddy looks like he's caught on something she said. Bomb? What was this about a bomb? Billy never told him...

... He'll ask her later. He puts a smile on instead, small yet warm, and gently places her palm against the top of her head.]

I think you've just been stuck in healer mode all this time. We're not in on the battlefield anymore... It's okay to be in friend mode now.

Hm. [Maybe. Is it possible to remain "stuck in healer mode" for...over a year, in pieces? Maybe.]

There are still so many people hurting, Teddy. I can't let them go any more than I can stop caring about you. [Mia pushes away enough to really look at him, finally considering what she must look like and trying to wipe her face enough with one hand.] Am I allowed to say I'm proud of you now?

Hey, you.

[ Tommy chews on a meatball. It's his sixteenth meatball. There is no sign of slowing down. ]

You do the dating thing.

[Teddy's chewing on a meatball, too. He's not on his sixteenth one, but only because he's not a fast eater. But he is on his eighth one, and he's sure he'll reach sixteen too.]

Yeah? [He raises an eyebrow.] It kind of comes with the boyfriend territory?

Yeah. I don't really want to hear anything about that.

[ He spears another six on the skewer. ] But if you were going on a casual date with a girl who hasn't been in juvie and probably doesn't want to be in prison, what would you do?

[Other eyebrow raise.]

You sure you don't want to hear about dating boys? I mean. You're asking a gay man about dating a girl.

[He spears his ninth meatball now.] But, luckily for you, I actually have dated a girl once. Briefly. For like two weeks. And I'm pretty sure she didn't want to be in prison or anything either.

[ A SHRUG. ] What's that got to do with it? Dates are dates.

So what would you recommend around here?

Well, what does mystery girl like? You could always take her out to the one restaurant we have.

Eating. [ ... ] And fighting.

[...] Nothing else?

Uh, duh. Me.

[... ... Tenth meatball.]

Right, sooo... the one restaurant we have, then a date to the Battledome? Maybe set up some... I don't know, Doombots or something from our world. Anyone can get a kick out of Doombots.

[ . . . ]

Ye... ah. Doombots.

[. . .]

What? "Failure is beneath DOOM!" is funny, come on.

It gets a little less funny after being in Latveria for a while.

Oh. ... Oh.

[A smile just whips onto his face. Yeah, he knows. He knows.]

Okay, no Doombots. Something like it, but without the whole... family tree drama?

Okay, one do not. Two, don't even think about it.

[He holds up his hands, eleventh meatball speared in one, in a pacifying gesture.]

All right, all right. I am notting, and not even thinking about it.

So. Random bad guy from our world.

Soo... [ Who is someone he can use. ] Okay, cool. Got it.

Okay? Cool.

[...]

So who is it?

[ HMM. ]

Bulla.

[Wait what. Teddy can feel the record scratch in his head.]

Wha - Uh. You... are on her dad's okay list, right?

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Teddy Altman ; APPOINTMENTS

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