Topaz And Doug || Say What Now?
Sep. 6th, 2018 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDoug collects Topaz for therapy. Topaz is uncertain. The threat of Marie-Ange looms over them both.
Doug tapped the cane he'd picked up for getting around on Topaz's door, then leaned rather heavily on it. Maybe Emma would buy him a fancy one if he asked, he thought. With a taser in the end or something. Sword canes were so cliche. Mostly this state of constant tiredness was going to take getting used to. He could still muster up energy for things in small bursts, but then he'd have to go lay down for an hour or more afterward.
And the iron/B12 heavy protein shakes he was drinking tasted utterly awful.
It took a moment for the door to open, revealing an obviously very tired young witch. She had one ear bud in, one hang out, the wire leading down to the pocket of her hoodie, and she was nudging her poor cat back to keep her from running. "Um... what's up?" Topaz asked, forcing herself to look up at Doug. She more or less knew the bare details of what had happened while the kids had been trying to get her out of the house. She still couldn't quite look Marie-Ange in the... nope, not going there.
Doug handed over a tea latte that he'd gotten from next door to the smoothie place (ugh, he was becoming that New Yorker). "You have an intake appointment with my therapist in..." He looked at his watch. "...just under an hour. You're driving."
"I what?" Topaz took the drink automatically, pulling out the other ear bud. "I don't need therapy. I mean, I don't need any more therapy. I'm already on Skype with the professor three times a week." He'd upped it after her last panic attack.
"Skype is a wonderful thing, and I love the Professor, but you need some in-person time." Which was the reason Doug kept on talking to Gus Grim himself - he might not be so terrified of water that he avoided showering anymore, but there really wasn't a substitute for sitting in a cushioned chair and having some time that was his to talk about the things that were going on in his life.
"I... okay, I mean, I assume if he's your therapist then either he knows weird or he's really discreet so I'm not going to ask how to explain the magical torture thing." That was getting slightly easier to say. "But I'm still not... I'm fine, really."
"Oh, he knows weird." Dr. Grim's stories weren't his to tell, but Doug had experienced plenty of weird himself, and considering what had brought him to therapy... "I mean, I got digested by a meat computer and developed a crippling fear of drowning, so."
Topaz had been around long enough to know better than to ask for any more clarification. She really wasn't sure she could handle the information. "It sounds like he's got his hands full. I don't want to waste his time."
Doug grimaced. He recognized this pattern of thought all too well, and spared a brief thought in apology to the memory of Cain Marko. "Marie-Ange poked me with an actual-facts spear and told me this needs to happen. Unless you -want- to go full Delphi Riddle..."
"..." Topaz opened and closed her mouth a few times, clearly struggling for an answer. "I... hate myself for getting that reference. Okay." She wasn't about to argue with Marie-Ange. It was her fault the woman had lost an eye, after all. "Let's go."
***
Doug was waiting patiently for Topaz to be through. He had ambled down to the lobby of the extremely secure building Dr. Grim operated his private practice out of, and found a table at the non-branded coffee shop to lean back and try to recoup some of the energy he'd expended walking and bullying Amanda's...whatever they were to each other these days...into seeing a therapist.
The young witch who joined him not long after he sat looked exhausted and slightly shaken. She collapsed into the chair across from him and rested her head in her arms with a groan. “Was there seriously just the intake?” She mumbled, voice muffled.
"He's thorough. And he's very good at not letting you get away with stuff," Doug replied. His eyes hadn't been closed behind his sunglasses. Honest. "There's a reason I brought you here and not to someone else. He's very good."
"He made me bring up things I forgot about." And had been quite happy forgetting, thank you very much. Topaz raised her head, resting her chin on her arms to look at Doug. "Are... you okay? I know there was some wonky blood stuff with Grace..."
Doug shrugged. "Mostly I'm just tired a lot." Then he grinned. "WebMD thinks I have ebola." In actuality, as far as he could tell from research was that his symptoms mostly matched up to a really aggressive form of anemia. Which probably made sense, what with the blood magic and so forth.
"Well, in that case you look amazingly healthy for having ebola," Topaz replied with an almost smile. It turned to a frown, however. "Can I... ask you something? About Marie-Ange?"
A raised eyebrow met her frown as Doug took his sunglasses off and placed them on the table. Her body language was...this was something important, he could tell. "What's on your mind?"
Topaz sat up slowly, twisting her fingers together. "I was... talking to her... and apologizing," that part was added in a mutter, "and she mentioned something about Asgard and migraines and knowing losing an eye was coming and I barely understood half of it but that's kind of normal with her most of the time. But I was just wondering if you knew what she meant about any of it?"
Doug paused, choosing his words carefully. "I don't know everything she sees, but I can tell you this. When she has migraines, or her powers flare up, or even sometimes when she's just extremely frustrated, this is the first thing she does." And he demonstrated, digging the heel of his hand into his right eye and twisting it back and forth. "You know that some of us have been to no-kidding Asgard, right?"
Huh. Topaz' eyebrows pulled together as she considered that tidbit. Coincidence, maybe. But when it came to magic, or anything close to it, there was no such thing as coincidences. "Yeah, I know. It's come up once or twice."
"There's a reason she hates ravens so much," Doug told the young witch. "She spent time in Odin's court. So when she talks about him, it's from experience." His fingers drummed rhythmically on the table. "There's always been some kind of...connection there, that I don't entirely understand."
Topaz turned that around before shaking her head. "None of my business, I suppose," she murmured. "She just seems.... really calm about it all. I was wondering if it was an act or...." She shrugged. "Anyways, thank you for telling me."
Doug looked a bit stern in the face of Topaz's fatalism. "If she tells you, it's your business. She doesn't do anything without a reason." It had been a hard lesson for him to learn at the time, but he knew it now.
That almost got him a smile. "Sounds like you speak from experience. She did call you an idiot when she was ranting at me about apologizing, didn't quite understand why at the time..."
Doug coughed. "Let's just say that this advice comes with 'do as I say, not as I do'."
Doug tapped the cane he'd picked up for getting around on Topaz's door, then leaned rather heavily on it. Maybe Emma would buy him a fancy one if he asked, he thought. With a taser in the end or something. Sword canes were so cliche. Mostly this state of constant tiredness was going to take getting used to. He could still muster up energy for things in small bursts, but then he'd have to go lay down for an hour or more afterward.
And the iron/B12 heavy protein shakes he was drinking tasted utterly awful.
It took a moment for the door to open, revealing an obviously very tired young witch. She had one ear bud in, one hang out, the wire leading down to the pocket of her hoodie, and she was nudging her poor cat back to keep her from running. "Um... what's up?" Topaz asked, forcing herself to look up at Doug. She more or less knew the bare details of what had happened while the kids had been trying to get her out of the house. She still couldn't quite look Marie-Ange in the... nope, not going there.
Doug handed over a tea latte that he'd gotten from next door to the smoothie place (ugh, he was becoming that New Yorker). "You have an intake appointment with my therapist in..." He looked at his watch. "...just under an hour. You're driving."
"I what?" Topaz took the drink automatically, pulling out the other ear bud. "I don't need therapy. I mean, I don't need any more therapy. I'm already on Skype with the professor three times a week." He'd upped it after her last panic attack.
"Skype is a wonderful thing, and I love the Professor, but you need some in-person time." Which was the reason Doug kept on talking to Gus Grim himself - he might not be so terrified of water that he avoided showering anymore, but there really wasn't a substitute for sitting in a cushioned chair and having some time that was his to talk about the things that were going on in his life.
"I... okay, I mean, I assume if he's your therapist then either he knows weird or he's really discreet so I'm not going to ask how to explain the magical torture thing." That was getting slightly easier to say. "But I'm still not... I'm fine, really."
"Oh, he knows weird." Dr. Grim's stories weren't his to tell, but Doug had experienced plenty of weird himself, and considering what had brought him to therapy... "I mean, I got digested by a meat computer and developed a crippling fear of drowning, so."
Topaz had been around long enough to know better than to ask for any more clarification. She really wasn't sure she could handle the information. "It sounds like he's got his hands full. I don't want to waste his time."
Doug grimaced. He recognized this pattern of thought all too well, and spared a brief thought in apology to the memory of Cain Marko. "Marie-Ange poked me with an actual-facts spear and told me this needs to happen. Unless you -want- to go full Delphi Riddle..."
"..." Topaz opened and closed her mouth a few times, clearly struggling for an answer. "I... hate myself for getting that reference. Okay." She wasn't about to argue with Marie-Ange. It was her fault the woman had lost an eye, after all. "Let's go."
***
Doug was waiting patiently for Topaz to be through. He had ambled down to the lobby of the extremely secure building Dr. Grim operated his private practice out of, and found a table at the non-branded coffee shop to lean back and try to recoup some of the energy he'd expended walking and bullying Amanda's...whatever they were to each other these days...into seeing a therapist.
The young witch who joined him not long after he sat looked exhausted and slightly shaken. She collapsed into the chair across from him and rested her head in her arms with a groan. “Was there seriously just the intake?” She mumbled, voice muffled.
"He's thorough. And he's very good at not letting you get away with stuff," Doug replied. His eyes hadn't been closed behind his sunglasses. Honest. "There's a reason I brought you here and not to someone else. He's very good."
"He made me bring up things I forgot about." And had been quite happy forgetting, thank you very much. Topaz raised her head, resting her chin on her arms to look at Doug. "Are... you okay? I know there was some wonky blood stuff with Grace..."
Doug shrugged. "Mostly I'm just tired a lot." Then he grinned. "WebMD thinks I have ebola." In actuality, as far as he could tell from research was that his symptoms mostly matched up to a really aggressive form of anemia. Which probably made sense, what with the blood magic and so forth.
"Well, in that case you look amazingly healthy for having ebola," Topaz replied with an almost smile. It turned to a frown, however. "Can I... ask you something? About Marie-Ange?"
A raised eyebrow met her frown as Doug took his sunglasses off and placed them on the table. Her body language was...this was something important, he could tell. "What's on your mind?"
Topaz sat up slowly, twisting her fingers together. "I was... talking to her... and apologizing," that part was added in a mutter, "and she mentioned something about Asgard and migraines and knowing losing an eye was coming and I barely understood half of it but that's kind of normal with her most of the time. But I was just wondering if you knew what she meant about any of it?"
Doug paused, choosing his words carefully. "I don't know everything she sees, but I can tell you this. When she has migraines, or her powers flare up, or even sometimes when she's just extremely frustrated, this is the first thing she does." And he demonstrated, digging the heel of his hand into his right eye and twisting it back and forth. "You know that some of us have been to no-kidding Asgard, right?"
Huh. Topaz' eyebrows pulled together as she considered that tidbit. Coincidence, maybe. But when it came to magic, or anything close to it, there was no such thing as coincidences. "Yeah, I know. It's come up once or twice."
"There's a reason she hates ravens so much," Doug told the young witch. "She spent time in Odin's court. So when she talks about him, it's from experience." His fingers drummed rhythmically on the table. "There's always been some kind of...connection there, that I don't entirely understand."
Topaz turned that around before shaking her head. "None of my business, I suppose," she murmured. "She just seems.... really calm about it all. I was wondering if it was an act or...." She shrugged. "Anyways, thank you for telling me."
Doug looked a bit stern in the face of Topaz's fatalism. "If she tells you, it's your business. She doesn't do anything without a reason." It had been a hard lesson for him to learn at the time, but he knew it now.
That almost got him a smile. "Sounds like you speak from experience. She did call you an idiot when she was ranting at me about apologizing, didn't quite understand why at the time..."
Doug coughed. "Let's just say that this advice comes with 'do as I say, not as I do'."
