Dayshift 61: Doctor's Office 8 (Dr. Cox) [4th Shift]

[notyoursafetynet]

Given what he'd done to the last nurse that had bothered him, and the fact that it had already been more than ten minutes since that time, Cox was fairly certain that every nurse, orderly, receptionist and even janitor currently working that day knew about it. And maybe some that weren't working if this place actually got decent phone service. As such, when his door next opened, he decided not to even bother looking back from his continued lounging on the sofa, choosing instead to go right into his current jackass routine.

“This is Doctor Cox,” he droned out mechanically with all the monotony of an answering machine, “So sorry I can't come to the door right now, buuuut if you drop your package at the beep and leave without a word, I'll be sure to not start listing off your biggest insecurities and, thereby, make you leave in tears." Message completed, he drew in a deep breath and finished with a long, "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep," that was not going to end until he heard the door closing behind him.

Comments

[mirthful]

Somehow Gamzee had ended up sleeping in for most of the day. Rather than taking him straight to a meal right off the bat, he was apparently being led to something called therapy. He didn't mind, of course, as he was always up for trying something new. At the very least he was able to check the bulletin board beforehand to respond to one of his friends. It looked like they'd be meeting up for the night again, and wouldn't that be fun?

He didn't know the man he'd been sent to meet, but he already seemed a musing. The troll turned human stood there while he finished his shpeal, grinning lazily. When the door had closed and his doctor had finished, he followed up the man's peculiar noise with one of his own.

"Honk honk."

[notyoursafetynet]

Cox had been expecting, or rather hoping that his package would be silent as packages weren't allowed to speak, at least not until opened. Instead of notifying his parcel of this when the kid decided to speak up without permission, Cox instead found his brow furrowing at being, of all things, honked at.

"Good Lord, they sent me a goose."

Heaven help the staff if they'd actually been bold enough to release one in his office. Any other time Cox might have found something like that mildly amusing, but as his team had just come up just short of a win, he was actually hoping for an actual koo-koo clock to abuse rather than just getting the little bird that popped out of it.

[mirthful]

Gamzee just laughed at that. "Shit, I couldn't rightly be sure what a goose all is, but what you've got here is a bonafide troll brother." Wait. "...Exceptin' I ain't frontin' the gray skin at this point in time." Nope, right now he was just as pink as all the rest of them.

Which reminded him...

He glanced down at his hand, checking for a mark from where he'd pricked himself the night before and finding nothing. Humans certainly healed up fast. But then again, it had hardly been much of a wound. It was weird to think that underneath that skin he had the same red blood Karkat did.

[notyoursafetynet]

Honking like a goose and claiming to be a troll? Again...

Good

Lord!

This was exactly why Cox hated shrinks, because they actually attracted people who were crazier than he was, and now that he was having to play the part? He was starting to wish the guy was a goose, one with a particularly long neck. That way he would have a bit longer when it came to choking the thing before roasting it up.

"If I explain it, will ya promise never to make that noise in this office again?" Cox wondered, still refusing to take a look back. He was happy envisioning a grey goose with fluffy hair and a jewel on its belly.

[mirthful]

The boy shrugged lightly, remaining completely unaffected by Cox's attitude. "It's how I get my mirth on, brother. If it bothers a motherfucker, I can try to keep such noise to myself, but I couldn't go makin' no promises about it." Honestly, he doesn't even care if he knows what a goose is or not. He wasn't the sort of individual who required many explanations.

Gamzee noted the chair and casually made his way over to take a seat on it. There he made himself comfortable and waited patiently for the doctor to do whatever it is he was supposed to do in these sessions. Though, waited might not be the appropriate term. He really just zoned out staring down at his hands.

/I should rename this icon in Gamzee's honor...

[notyoursafetynet]

And now he could add "hippie" to his great list of images to base this guy on, but since that mental image involved a multi-colored, pot-smoking troll-goose, complete with rose-colored shades and a tye-dyed shirt with a peace sign on it? He could honestly say he was a bit thankful when the kid got brave enough to come on over into his line of view.

Huh?

"Nothing like a pictured there, Goose," he commented, rolling more onto his side so he could use the sofa's arm rest as he watched the young man. He frowned a moment before squinting he eyes and wondering aloud, "Now... who said you could have a seat in my chair?"

hahaha

[mirthful]

Gamzee laughs at his apparent new nickname. It was just goofy enough sounding that he didn't mind. He wasn't going to continuously correct the doctor on it, if that's the name he felt like using. Whatever worked for him was fine.

"It's what I'm supposed to do, right? I get my squat on and you lay onto me with what it is a therapy session be for." There's a bit of a pause as he just kicks his feet back and forth. "...Though I could be movin' back up into a standing position if this ain't chill with you."

Always willing to be accommodating.

[notyoursafetynet]

The way this kid talked was just so fascinating that Cox could only find himself staring at every response, unable to come up with a return.

And that just wasn't like him.

Slowly, after a period of staring, Cox raised his hands to the guy and kept them up as he spoke. "I'll probably be answering my own question with this one, but... I'm just curious enough to risk it:" he prepared, warning both himself and Goose for what was about to come, "Did they drug you before they sent you in here?"

[mirthful]

"Did they what?" Gamzee tilted his head, mildly baffled by the question. "Bro, they didn't even set me all up with shit for munchin' on first." He thought about the question a little longer, stopped thinking about it, then somehow got himself to return to thinking of it again - meaning that for a good couple minutes he was just sort of staring dully ahead.

He rolled up the sleeve of one arm, revealing a band-aid. "Motherfuckers like to stick me with some all pie juice or somethin' in the arm when I get up. Don't really do nothin'." Yeah, that's basically being drugged, but that part is still sort of going over his head.

[notyoursafetynet]

The first words, Cox could only assume, meant that Goose had either not had his usual weed roll or not been given breakfast, but he couldn't really be sure of that. What he was fairly sure of was when Goose blanked over as though he'd hit that fuzzy static screen when the television lost transmission.

"Good God, I broke him," Cox muttered with his head tilting off even more at the oddity that was supposed to be his patient. After a long enough pause, Cox had no choice but to give a rather loud whistle to see if Goose was even breathing. Sure, he wanted to get fired, but not because a patent was so drug addled that his heart stopped mid-therapy.

Whether Goose heard the whistle or not, there was at least an eventual response which, big shock, did answer Cox's own question. "Pie Juice", was it?

"I'm gunna guess that pie juice takes you to your happy place more often than you realize..." Cox sighed, his tone hinting towards anger. He wasn't mad at Goose exactly, but at the fact that the nurses were petty enough to play his game. Really, sending him drugged patients that he couldn't actually mess with? Now that was hitting below the belt.

[mirthful]

That got another laugh out of the troll-turned-boy. "I couldn't say if any one place I been in is all so much more motherfuckin' happy than any other place. I'm pretty all contentwise in most places." Even if he wasn't with the rest of his friends here. He missed Karkat the most, but at least there was Rose who at least seemed to know what his world was. She was nice enough. Honestly, most people here were incredibly friendly.

Although this doctor did seem to be a little irritated by something. Even Gamzee could see that. He couldn't say if it had anything to do with him or if the man was just like that all the time, so he didn't presume to guess. Maybe the man hadn't gotten to eat his first meal of the day yet either.

"But it's aight, brother," he assured him. "I ain't broke."

/spanks self for being a bad, bad therapist...

[notyoursafetynet]

At this point, Cox would have actually preferred if he'd been the one that was broken, because then he wouldn't have had to listen to any more of Goose's words of euphoria. It was one thing for a person to be intentionally happy, which was only somewhat annoying for Cox since, most usually, those kinds of people either stayed the hell away from him or got hurt enough and learned do the same. However, when it came to people who weren't even aware of how much of a happy high they were on?

Well...

"If you're not broke, then here's a fun game for you to play," he started, grinning as though he were just as excited for said game as he hoped Goose would be, "Pretend that you are for the next, say, forty-five minutes, and I'll make sure the nurses give you something even more special than your pie juice next time they shoot you up. How's that sound?"

There was no tolerance for this kind.

[mirthful]

"Uhhhh..." Gamzee just blinked at the man, not sure what to think of that. How did someone pretend to be broken? He wasn't even sure what was required to be considered someone needing repair. "I don't know if that would all be that motherfuckin' fun. Don't honestly know what a brother wants me to do."

Did he know anyone who needed... what was he getting here? Special counseling-type help? Someone to listen to his problems, maybe? He'd listened to other troll's problems before. Eridan had a lot of them. Maybe if he tried acting a little more like Eridan he'd be properly playing along with whatever game the man was trying to get him to play right now. He slouched a little in his seat, attempting to look thoughtful and not succeeding all that well.

"Is it I should be gettin' to you about some fuckin' quadrant issues?"

[notyoursafetynet]

Cox sighed, a whimper as the other might hear it as he rolled onto his back and lifted his hands to his eyes, rubbing his palms over them. After a few passes he stopped, hands still glued to his face as he lay unmoving.

Maybe, just maybe if he pretended himself to be broken then happy-go-goosey would react similar to another idiot Cox knew and get so confused that he'd shut off again. There was just enough of a chance for that to happen that Cox was willing to part with a few of his precious breaths by holding them in.

[mirthful]

No such luck. Gamzee just sat patiently, legs kicking beneath him as he sat and head bobbling slightly to a tune only he could hear. He wasn't going to stop the doctor from taking a nap if he wanted. It was his office, after all. Maybe he'd take a nap too if he ended up being in there for very long.

As it was, he just sort of zoned out again. What else did the doctor want him to do?

[notyoursafetynet]

Having half expected for goose to go off and start honking on him again, Cox was pleasantly surprised when silence finally prevailed in his office. It was, for all purposes of the word, amazing that the only thing he could hear was breathing coming from the direction of the chair, so amazing in face that Cox could not help his curiosity. His hands lifted, and his head turned enough for Cox to see that Goose had returned to his broken self, blank stare and all.

Cox didn't smile for the action however. Instead he pulled his hands down, pressed his palms together and, turning his eyes to the ceiling, mouthed out a silent "Thank you" to whatever being might have been listening to him up there.