open + closed | mistakes have been made

[thereneverwas]

WHO: Barrow + you
WHAT: catch-all
WHEN: the general Firstfall/Haring vicinity
WHERE: around the Gallows
NOTES: lots of Templar-relevant navelgazing. starters in comments, holler if you'd like one

Comments

[portalling]

Strange nods, taking that in.

Not judgmental, just questioning: “No one at all? It can help, sometimes, having a comforting presence or loved ones to visit. A hand to hold.” Adding, dryly, “My own bedside manner isn’t the greatest, so you’re warned.”

I mean, Barrow probably already could’ve guessed.

[thereneverwas]

Barrow thinks on that a moment, folding and unfolding his hands. It's not that he has an issue with Strange's bedside manner, but a creeping unease in the back of his mind is unrelenting: what if he hurts someone, damages something, says something he doesn't mean.

He sighs finally, closing his eyes. "Mobius," he relents, "...Lazar." Someone who can talk him down, and someone who could help restrain him, if need be.

[portalling]

Bedside manner case in point, Strange can’t rein in his mouth or his poker face before he blurts out: “Lazar? Really?”

He didn’t really seem the nurturing type. But okay, to each their own, he jots down an incomprehensible squiggle which might be MOB & LAZ. “But alright. Good, noted. Then I think I’ve got everything I need: I’ll monitor you throughout once we start, of course, and you’ll have a bed to yourself. It’s that small room off to the side, it has a little more privacy compared to the cots in the open.”

It’s played host to various Riftwatchers in need of longer-term hospitalisation before. Herian had stayed there for a while.

[thereneverwas]

Perhaps contrary to expectation, Barrow laughs-- it's a quick burst of genuine amusement, and he shrugs helplessly, offering, "in case anyone has to wrestle me down."
You know, hypothetically.

The tension lessened, he glances toward the door and nods, with a little sigh of relief; he'll have some privacy, at least.

"When should I, er...?"

🎀

[portalling]

“Anytime you’re ready,” Strange says.

Although he also knows how easy it is to drag your heels when there isn’t a fire lit under you, and so he’s quick to add, wryly: “But I’ll also be on your ass to make sure it actually happens and you don’t just back out and dither on timing forever. Just, FYI.”