milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Were it a film, the music would be dramatic. With electric guitars and various unidentifiable brass instruments.

As it is, the only sound that is heard as the door opens is a vicious barking, snarling. Not your fluffy puppy ripping your daily newspaper. Oh no, this dog sounds like it would not only eat the newspaper, but would finish off the paper boy...

A soggy and bedraggled Guppy dives through the door, pulling off a flying roll made all the more impressive by the fact his hands are tied with a piece of rope. He takes a look around for just a second, then turns and counts slowly in his head. Then, he steps back towards the door and slams it shut with a sideways kick, which would have looked great had he not fallen over backwards.

There is a muffled thu-dump and a whine from outside.

He sits on the floor for a moment, hands still tied, getting his breath back. He doesn't look too bad, physically. His shirt is gone, though his jacket and trousers remain, the latter with blood on the right leg. And he has a very impressive sun tan.

[ooc: Locked to people who know Guppy already please :)]

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Atton's at the bar when Guppy enters. He looks up from the datapad he's studying intensely, when Guppy enters, looking around and seeing Guppy.

There's a big grin, then a scowl, as Atton blurs over, lightsaber flashing to cut through the rope around his hands.

Before Guppy gets a bear-hug. This may be one of the few times Atton will quite happily hug somebody in plain view of everybody else.

Sam's in the bar, too, tucked away sulkily in a corner booth.

When he sees Guppy, that he appears essentially all right, happiness meets anger head on. He's incredibly happy he's alive, but he's also seriously pissed-off.

Sam's there almost as fast as Atton is, grinning resolutely, but his hands remain shoved in his pockets. He doesn't hit Guppy, but he doesn't hug him either.

"Hello, Guppy."

Guppy clings to Atton, his wet hair dripping all over his brother's shirt.

At first, there are no words, he just sobs. But he regains control, takes a deep breath and looks up at Sam.

"Sorry"

Atton turns his head, slightly, to give Sam a look. It's the 'kriff, how am I supposed to yell at him like this?' look.

"What were you thinking?" It's meant to sound angry, but it doesn't come out too well.

Sam watches them impassively. At Atton's look, he closes his eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You're a fucking idiot, Guppy Sandhu." It's surprisingly calm, and very quiet, but there's a strange, dangerously forced note in his voice, hands balled into fists in his pockets.

"Do you have any idea at all how worried we were?"

"Yes." Guppy says, wiping his eyes and getting a grip on himself.

"I thought about you guys almost constantly. As well as everyone back home. Only breaking from it on the occasions I had to keep my wits about me and survive."

He's still holding onto Atton. He doesn't want to let him go.

"Before you give me the berating I deserve, can I at least offer a partial explanation?"

"It better be really kriffin' good, Guppy." Atton frowns. "Sam's right, what you did was stupid and dangerous. For all we knew y'could've been dead."

"You would have done better," Sam says, a little sharply, "to have thought about us beforehand. Some of us thought you were dead, you stupid pillock!"

"If I had told you beforehand you'd have come back with me and finished him off for good." Guppy says, looking up at them both. "I know that, you know that. And I am grateful for it."

"And under normal circumstances, I would have. I'd have come to you begging for help as I always do. And I very nearly did."

"But I found out through my lawyer that I was about to face a showdown when I went to court against Stitch. He said it was possible that they wouldn't believe in the power of hypnotism. Stitch's lawyer was going to paint me as a doctor with a chronically unstable state of mental health, as well as making out I was a drug user. Chances were, he was going to walk free, even with the CCTV pictures and my colleagues' statements. What's more, he had been working very hard to get his earlier beating up pinned onto me."

"Whilst it seems heartless of me not to have told you this at the time, I agonised over the decision. I knew I couldn't take you back with me to protect me, however much you wanted to help. Not then. Imagine this had happened to you after I'd told you what was happening. Would you not have then felt guilty, and for longer? I hoped that by not telling you that you would not feel any responsibility for my fate, should the case arise."

He sighs, then continues.

"I took precautions. I informed the police when Stitch started to press me to drop the charges. I installed cameras onto my home. I wrote my daily routines down in intricate detail and arranged appointments regularly so that if anything did happen, it would be noticed quickly. I didn't think he would go so far. I miscalculated, badly."

"I left the notes and instructions with Bar so that if things did go wrong, you would at least know. I didn't imagine at the time that they would so badly."

He pauses and shivers.

"I now have all the evidence I need. I left blood and hair in both the vehicles they took me in to make sure I was traced. And... there's plenty of evidence on my body too."

Glancing up again. "That's more or less it. I'm sorry that I hurt and scared you. I hope you can forgive me with the knowledge that Stitch and his brothers can finally be brought to justice."

He looks at the floor, a little pale and with sweat beads forming on his forehead. There appears to be more blood on his trousers than there was before.

Atton scowls, shaking his head.
"Why not just tell us not t'go after Stitch? Y'would've been protected, and things would've turned out a damn sight better. Kriff, Guppy."

He frowns.
"C'mon, let's get you to a booth , get your leg looked at. And something t'drink."

Eyeroll. "Quit the prepared speech, Guppy. Why the hell exactly could you not have taken us back with you?"

Sam sighs. "Get him to a booth, Atton. I'll get the drinks. I could use about twenty myself. Want anything?"

"Glass of water please."

Guppy sighs and looks at the floor.

"I couldn't take you back with you because unless he hurt me again I didn't have enough evidence to convict him. You'd have had to stand back and watch him do it. I couldn't do that to you. And besides, I thought I could handle it. I'm a grown man, I should be able to take responsibilities for my own episodes of doom. You already fought my playground battle for me once."

Tears beginning to well up again.

"But I-I've messed up more than you can begin to believe. I didn't spot that his brothers were my old school bullies. I didn't think he'd kidnap me and put me on some island somewhere. Hit me, maybe, but..."

He accepts the help to the booth, but tears fall freely now.

"...I was so stupid. He knew everything about me. What I most feared. He knew I couldn't swim, that I was scared of dogs, that my only remaining family member I'm still on speaking terms with is my grandmother." Looking up through the tears.

"I don't learn, do I? I can be brave and stand up to people, but at the end of the day I can't defeat them on my own. And if I stand my ground..."

He buries his head in his hands. "Stitch isn't on the island right now. Only his brothers are. You know where he is? He's sitting outside my Nana's house in case I make a break for it."

A bitter half laugh through the tears.

"And if there's so much as a scratch on her when I get back to her, he really will be able to pin GBH on me. So go on guys, let out your anger. I am already broken."

He curls tightly into a little ball and buries his head in his knees.

"Tarisian ale, please."

And then Guppy starts tearing up, and Atton flails, a little, pulling Guppy to his feet and guiding him towards a booth.
"C'mon, Guppy, we need t'look at that leg."

"'Bout time you started ignoring the law, then, Guppy, I'd've said. If you'd have told us, we could have made it disappear."

Sam gives Atton a sympathetic, I'll-be-right-back-I-swear sort of look, heading for the bar. He orders water for Guppy, Tarisian Ale for Atton and a very large glass of Atlantean for himself, which he downs before ordering another and bringing all three drinks back over.

"Sounds like we need to do some planning. Atton, seen Belle? She wanted in."

His eyes glisten. But he's not crying now. Holding it back.

"Oh trust me, I have a plan now." he says, a tight and dangerous voice as he sips the water.

"A couple of good Welsh lifeboat volunteers are going to find me on the island. We take the boat and leave the brother's stranded, ready for the police. And make sure they have no phones. Then we go to Nana's and get Stitch. I'm sure you three have ways of holding him until the police show up."

Wincing slightly, he pulls up his trouser leg.

"Then the police can match these teeth marks to their dog. Case closed."

The wound is nasty, the dog having bitten and held tight to his calf. Whilst there is no obvious muscle damage, it still oozes blood.

"Less bloody violence than I was hoping for, but it'll do," All three of them do, after all, have other ways of making the brothers suffer. "I won't heal that wound completely, then." Atton says, reaching down with two glowing fingers. "Just stop the blood from flowing out."

"Yeah, that reminds me Atton, I need a word at some point. No rush," Sam says, very calmly.

Guppy's leg is eyed. The look bodes no good at all for any of the Lambert brothers and Stitch in particular, when Sam catches up with them.

"Nasty," he comments, very, very dangerously lightly.

"Thanks." Guppy says quietly.

"I'm sorry for the lack of violence in the plan." he says, wincing slightly. "But I'm sure you'll get your chance, and great as the evidence would be for my case, I really don't want any of us getting shot, marvellous as your abilities are."

He winces slightly, pale, and takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to stop the little black dots that keep flashing in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, if I want violence that much I've got a planet of plague infested rioters outside my door," Atton grins. "Just relax, okay?"

He turns his head to look at Sam, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't really want t'leave Guppy at the moment - Give me a few seconds, I'll lower my defenses and we can talk mind t'mind? Just, y'know, don't even think about trying t'read my other thoughts."

A pause, while he opens up the many, many defenses, just enough to send a message to Sam.
Okay, what d'you want to talk about?

"Calm down, Guppy. We'll be good little boys, as ordered," Sam says wryly, sipping his drink.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he answers Atton, although he's mildly surprised- and gratified - that Atton trusts him enough to do it. Probably just the worry about Guppy, though.

< Wondering how far you were prepared to go with the Lamberts, for starters. That and we're going to have to keep an eye on the Cajun kid, if she's coming. Belle. I don't entirely trust her not to go too far. >

"Now who's leaving the other out of the loop?"

Guppy scowls, sitting up no matter how little he wants to.

"I'm not a little kid any more. So I made a mistake, I miscalculated the risk. I might not be a fighter, I may not have magic powers or a grasp of the force but damnit, I'm not stupid! My grandmother's life is at stake because I messed up, and I can not afford to mess up again by missing an important sub-plan that you guys are... concocting."

He stops, breathing quickly and heavily. His vision clouds, but it feels like every sound is amplified. His heart beating hard and fast as the panic attack takes hold. No, he doesn't want this to happen now, for them to see him like this.

He tries to take control again.

Breathing first, the rest will follow.

"Guppy, calm down. Trust us and keep calm, okay? Nobody here thinks you're stupid."

We can't hurt them much. But all three of us are telepaths, we can harm them without leaving marks - What about you? As for Belle ... Well, she has Guppy's best interests at heart, if he tells her not to go too far, she'll do her best to keep herself under control. We can hold her back if she looks like she's going t'go too far, though.

He pauses, looking at Guppy for a second.

If you want to tell him what we're talking about, I'll go with that.

< I'm more worried that she'll lose control, really. She has good intentions, as far as I can tell, but she seems not entirely unlike a kid in some ways. >

"When you think-" Sam starts, but bites off. This is probably just as well, since the sentence was going to end 'that one of us might well be dead for a fortnight, then you've got room to talk'. And given what may possibly be happening to him in about a week's time, that'd be a wee bit unfortunate.

...Anyway.

"We were planning, Guppy, that's all. Nobody thinks you're stupid."

Well, actually, on this occasion he kind of does, but that's beside the point.

He lies back and looks up at Sam as he comes back into focus. And makes a mental note that irritation is a good means of speeding up the reversal of waves of panic.

"When I think you might be dead?" He looks over at Atton. "Both of you march into deadly situations all the time. Every time I don't see you for a week or two I get worried one of you is dead. I've scraped you off the floor, both of you. I've seen what your worlds try to do to you. So be mad at me if you want, but I've told you a damn lot more than either of you tell me in these situations."

"That's different, Guppy," Atton scowls. "You're not us. We're both fighters, we've been getting into deadly situations for years, and we can handle ourselves in them. Can you?"

Sam frowns as well. "And I'm immortal, which would make the chances of my getting killed any time soon are really fucking slim anyway, so hell if I know why you worry about me, at least. Last I checked both of us were fully capable of survival."

"You nearly bled out on me on the floor over there." Guppy says to Atton, pointing to the spot. "You came to me having been stabbed with something that could kill you." he adds to Sam.

"People try to hurt me all the time. I'm not talking about big ones like Stitch. Every day we get drunks, abusive relatives, drug lords, other criminals, you name it. In the last twenty years nineteen members of staff in my department have died in the course of duty. And these days, I rarely even come in with bruises. An NHS worker is assaulted every seven minutes in the UK, and that's just the ones that are known about. I learned to block, to dodge, to read the signs.

So yes, I am a fighter, and yes, I can take care of myself most of the time. It took all three of them to get me into that jeep, and the younger brother was left looking for one of his teeth."

A slight wince. "Hey, I even took on the dog. How do you think I stopped it ripping the flesh off my leg?"

He scowls and lies back. There is very little that Guppy hates more than being treated with kid gloves, and only guilt and pain prevents him saying something he'd regret.

"... I'm impressed that you can remember the exact spot." Atton says, absently.

Beat.

"Anyway. It's not the same, Guppy - You got way out of your depth, there."

Sam blinks. "Er, no, Guppy, I didn't. I got nibbled on by a dragon and burnt a bit. There was no stabby by anything that could kill me, or I'd have been, y'know, killed."

He frowns. "And I'm with Atton- you were way out of your depth and it was something that could have been prevented if you'd told us Stitch was up to his old tricks."

And this is the bit that irks, really.

"It happens to the best of us sometimes." Guppy says wearily.

"And it's experiences such as this that teach the toddler not to jump off the see-saw, the teen not to ride their bike whilst listening to a CD player, and a doctor to leave the ass-kicking to the infinitely more qualified brothers, okay?"

A ghost of a smile and he takes both of their hands.

"I need your help now, and how much you care about me means a lot. Please don't be angry that I tried to stand on my own feet."

"We're angry that you picked a stupid time to do it, not that y'tried standing on your own feet," Atton replies. "'S doesn't mean we care about you any less. And it doesn't mean we're not going t'help you."

"You standing on your own feet is great so long as you don't have any other option, Guppy," Sam agrees, a little wearily.

The thoughtful knuckle-cracking of his free hand may be a tad ominous. For Stitch, anyway.

"Why d'you think we're so pissed off? Because we care, idiot. And of course we're going to help."

He squeezes both their hands. That's all he needs.

He puts his hand to his head, barely able to keep his eyes open. He hasn't slept since the dog arrived.

(Mind putting a quick wrap on the other thread, so there can be much worrying over, and thanking God for the safe return of Guppy?)

(I'm not sure I realise why that thread needs to be wrapped? I saw the explanation, it's just not entirely clear.)

(Unless you're not talking about the Sam-Guppy-Atton thread above.)

no, a previous thread we have. . .the super slow from before the vacation)

[ooc: Agreed with Eric, if you're talking about the thread above. We still have stuff to cover. I'm posting a next morning Guppy in shortly, so Belle can catch up with him there, ok? Don't worry, you won't get missed out of the planning/asskicking.]

(I meant the slow from before you left. The above thread is full of nifty)

[ooc: Ah, sorry, yes, we can fade that one. Sorry for the delay, Jersey's only connected to the net by a damp piece of string and it was difficult to get online.]

(*chuckles* No worries!)

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