batmanschmatman | 043 [voice]

When I first got here, someone [Costigan.] asked me what happens when you can't get the time away you need to de-stress and relax. When stuff just keeps piling on and there's no way to get some time away to just process all of it, and focus on yourself for a couple days. And I said that "you just suck it up and keep fighting the good fight", because it's either that or letting yourself get crushed under whatever it is you're working on and giving up on it.

I stand by that. If the job's that important, that you've stuck by it long enough to get to that point? You keep working on it. It's something that matters, and even if it sucks, it would be worse to let it destroy you, or to not get it done, or both.

[Private to Costigan]

You ready to get started?

[Private to Tim]

You doing any better, or should I be dropping by to make sure your head hasn't split in half since I've been gone?

[Private to Martha]

We're starting the meds today. I'll keep you updated on how things seem to be going so we can figure out when a good time to bring up the whole "how about just antidepressants" thing should be.

How've you been outside of all this?

[Private to Paddy]

Thanks for helping out with all that.

[Private to Steph]

So, how does being twenty feel?

[Private to Kirk]

In the highly unlikely event that I ever get that wasted and start drunk dialing the Barge, safe to say you're not the person who's going to confiscate my journal? [Amuuused.]

[Private to Ariadne]

[Several seconds of silence as he tries to figure out what to say and how to say it.] Sorry it took a flood with personality changes to make me apologize for being an ass when you first got here. I didn't really know what to say before, or if you'd even want to talk after what happened, sooo... yeah. Sorry about that.

[Derp derp, well, this isn't awkward at all. So, he's just switching off the feed after wondering if he should say something else.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Your room or mine?

....You built a fort? I think that's brilliant!

You do realize next time I have a girl's night out I'm going suggest a fort now.

It was pretty awesome, not gonna lie. Although I'm not sure I'm ever going to enlist Jim's help in handling my wasted younger brother ever again, he wasn't exactly of the "Tim drink some water and go to sleep" variety when it came to actually helping.

Jim Kirk? No, I didn't think he would be, really. He's more of the "let's catch up to him" sort, I think.

Or, let's help him build the fort.

I'm still fairly sure he does it for fun and just gets lucky.

I'll take what I can get.

Yours. [Then he can leave when things inevitably go bad.] I'll be there soon.

---

[And, as promised, Costigan arrived at Dick's door a few minutes later, looking just a little less miserable than the last time they spoke. Although, he hadn't actually caught up with Mal yet and that was its own cause of anxiety.]

And when Dick opened the door to let him in, he noticed that subtle difference. He chose to see that as a good sign, and - being in a pretty good mood himself - grinned and stepped out of the way for his inmate to enter, heading over to the kitchen as he greeted him.

"Hey. What's up?"

Costigan entered casually, a little like he imagined it would be to visit a friend's place. The inmate closed and locked the door behind him, then followed over toward the kitchen, stuffing his hands in his pockets for the moment. He still wore his brown jacket, the lightest weight long sleeve anything he had that could be taken off and thrown on easily. Beneath that was a simple white t-shirt. Someone observant, like Dick, would probably notice that he might not have been out and about much the last few days.

"You wanted to get started, right?" That was clearly more important than talking about anything/everything else.

"Yeah." But Costigan would not be getting off that easily, because part of this whole deal had been actually talking about issues, and Dick had noticed he'd been sort of scarce over the last couple days. It hadn't been something he'd been actively concerned about, but it was still noticeable, and considering the floods and more people leaving, he doubted it was anything good.

He grabbed a glass out of a cabinet, filled it with water, and retrieved the antidepressants and benzos, handing over the pills first and then the glass. "So, where've you been?"

I'm pretty sure you've heard it enough from literally everyone else.

For the record, fort building was probably one of your better drunken ideas.

Was it my idea? I don't even remember.

I guess it was Jim's, but you definitely took to it like a fish to water.

What can I say, I'm good with forts.

Have you had a lot of opportunity to build them since coming here?

"What do you mean? It's not like I can leave." It was an obvious avoidance, but Costigan took the opportunity to delay a moment and give himself room to think of what to tell Dick. He picked up one of the anti-anxiety meds and two of the anti-depressants and pocketed them for his second dose that day. Then he picked up the remaining benzo and downed it without hesitation. At the anti-depressants, he paused, but he popped them into his mouth and took a sip of water as though he was swallowing them. Instead, they were tucked beneath his tongue for now.

Costigan made a face at the bitter taste of the medications and then drank the rest of the water quickly and passed the glass off to Dick. "More water?"

The instant Dick turned his back, Costigan pulled the capsules from his mouth and slid them into a different pocket. When Dick returned with the glass of water, he offered a small smile and took another sip. "Thanks, kid."

Dick noticed the hesitation, but didn't think too much about it - Costigan had put up enough of a fight over the antidepressants that his continuing hesitation wasn't out of the question - and through a combination of having his back turned and not necessarily being 100% present at the moment (a night of babysitting drunk younger siblings does that to people), he missed Costigan pocketing them and handed the water over innocently.

"No problem." He leaned back against the counter, his hands stuffed in the pocket of his jeans. "I just haven't seen you around much lately."

He woke up thankfully. For the most part, he's fine though he tried to pretend he wasn't tired after being in a coma for a week. [He's so stubborn gdi.] Not the biggest fan of infirmaries either.

Well, they're not the most fun place to spend a week.

Costigan set the water down after a moment in order to shift uncomfortably and return his hands to his pockets. Dick's probing questioning made him anxious and he knew he was supposed to be answering -- this was part of the deal -- which only made it worse. After a pregnant pause, the inmate gave a couple small nods and glanced away.

"I've been spending more time in my room and the gym is all. You told me not to rely on the pills, right? I'm trying not to." More like he was trying to wear himself out at the gym so he could actually sleep without everything with Mal keeping him up, to distract him from missing Donny or Parker. Costigan was a master of keeping everything inside, but he still felt it all.

Point taken. [She pauses for a moment, thinking whether or not she should ask him a certain question. She should ask? Would it be too awkward to do so? After all, they just made up with each other a few minutes ago...

Whatever, she's going to ask anyway.]

So, how's your inmate doing?

Dick nodded, brow furrowing slightly in concern. It wasn't so much the answer that bothered him as the obvious anxiety, mostly because he was confused about where it was coming from. To him, "where've you been" didn't seem like a hard question to answer, and while he was pretty much totally certain that Costigan wasn't afraid of him, he wasn't sure why talking about something like this illicited that kind of response.

"Okay, that's good." He hesitated, not exactly sure on how to proceed. Martha was right, this whole thing was probably better suited to someone who was actually a licensed therapist not a vigilante/former cop. "How's it been working for you?"

[He'll answer, but you're not getting any details. :C]

Not too bad. Have you met him?

[>.> That's fair. It's not like she's giving him all the deets about her inmate either.]

Not yet.

Page 7 of 9

043 [voice]

Private

private;

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Re: private

private

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Spam

Spam

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[Private]

[Private]

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[Private]

Spam - let me know if you want me to edit!

Spam - Totally cool :D

Private

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Spam - <3

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Spam - <3!

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Private