milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Guppy has been in the infirmary for most of the last couple of days, keeping an eye on Athelstan among his army of Viking volunteers.

But even he has to attend to basic needs from time to time, so at a moment when he appeared stable and settled, Guppy went upstairs to wash and blow dry his hair. By the time he came back, Athelstan appears to be gone... and there's signs of bloody footprints too...

He comes back into the main bar and looks around to see if he's getting some fresh air like he did yesterday, carefully following the trail of blood... to the door...

"Oh shit!"

[ooc: Ping before tagging unless you're Ragnar, will open up once they've talked]

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Ragnar comes walking in through the door, making his way towards the infirmary with long strides.

"Athelstan?"

"Um, Ragnar?" Guppy follows him. "He's, um, he's not with you?"

"No," Ragnar says. "He was better -- I left him here to go find the kids!"

"I left him for half an hour or so." Guppy says. "He was asleep peacefully, Sinric has been around, the waitrats were keeping an eye on him but... he's not there now."

Ragnar discovers the bloody footsteps, follows the line with his eyes to the end, and looks absolutely, totally, utterly crestfallen and forlorn.

"Ragnar... I'm sorry, I didn't think for a minute he'd even try and get out of bed, he was okay when I left..."

"Athelstan," Ragnar murmurs, as if to himself. "He's gone back there. To those people. He's gone."

"The bar picks people up, there's hope of getting him back." Guppy says. "He'd had three days of antibiotics too..."

Ragnar puts his hands on he bar counter and takes a few deep breaths, turning very pale, tears gathering in his eyes.

Guppy puts a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Ragnar turns around; something snaps in his manner, and suddenly, he brushes off that hand, and he is shouting.

"You!" he roars, thunderously. "You let him get away, and now Athelstan is out there, with bleeding feet, among the enemy! Where is Sinric? He'll blame himself so horribly, he might never talk to us again."

A shocked silence.

"If there ever is an 'us' again -- Athelstan might die there, because YOU let him go, you miserable little wimp from the future!"

While he's still shouting, tears are spilling from Ragnar's eyes; he doesn't even seem to notice.

Guppy nearly jumps out of his skin at the first yell, and proceeds to back away as Ragnar bears down on him.

"I-I'm sorry Ragnar, he didn't say anything about leaving, if he had I'd have stopped him..."

He feels the familiar wave of panic running through him, the colour draining from his face during Ragnar's tirade.

The shouting only takes a few seconds; next, Ragnar lowers his voice into a snarl as he follows, towering over Guppy.

"He snuck out," he growls, "either on purpose, or in a fever, and you let him!"

Beat.

"You being sorry solves NOTHING! He is lost!"

Guppy steps back, a part of him knowing Ragnar is angry and this isn't entirely fair (but he's hardly going to blame the rats). A larger part knowing that Ragnar is 1. bigger than him 2. probably armed and 3. Pissed.

He trips over the nearest barstool and narrowly avoids falling on his backside.

"You're a coward," Ragnar states, still towering over him. "Where's Sinric?"

Guppy steps back once more then, realising he is losing control of the situation.

Then steps back two paces, reaches into his inside pocket, and pulls out his stun gun.

"This won't hurt you, but it'll have you sleeping on the floor for the next twenty minutes if you don't back off." he says. "I've spent the last three days continuously watching Athelstan, I'm not here to be threatened by you!"

"Where is Sinric?" Ragnar asks again.

He doesn't come closer, but he doesn't stop glowering.

"I don't know." Guppy says. "But maybe we should go look for him rather than get our asses hauled into the cells."

"I'll do that," Ragnar says. "You're as useless as a one-legged, one-armed, one-eyed man with one of his balls rotting off!"

Beat.

"Odd that you have so many children, considering that you might not even have any balls at all, looking at you now. Are you sure they're not your cousin's, or your neighbour's, or from some passing wanderer?"

And with those intense Viking insults, he storms off, running upstairs while taking two steps at one time.

Guppy waits for him to go, before he puts the stun gun away.

He wants to go and help find Sinric, but instead he finds himself locking himself in the toilet to calm down.

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