![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Oct. 26th, 2009 09:35 pmIt was a difficult choice. Stay in the bar and have Atton picking up on his grief telepathically, or go home and have his wife and son pick up on it in the usual fashion. So after a sleepless few hours, he goes home with as much composure as he can muster.
"What happened?" Frogspawn asks, the moment he walks in the room. So much for trying not to alarm them. He sighs and sits down on the sofa.
"Doc died." he says quietly.
Frogspawn hugs him tightly, and he hugs back for a long moment.
"Doc died." says a little voice by his feet. Guppy's stomach gets that sinking feeling again as he looks down at the little boy on the floor. Alex is staring at him with a look that seems to say 'Something is wrong, your eyes are wet, I'm scared'.
He swallows hard and pulls out of the hug, looking over at Frogspawn. It's a chilling little repetition out of the mouth of a babe. Alex isn't old enough to understand the concept of death, not really. But at the same time he realises that there's a good chance Alex will know something is happening, and is probably frightened by the uncertainty as much as anything else.
Frogspawn gets off the sofa and sits down next to the toddler.
"Yes Fry, Doc died." she says gently. "People are made up of a body and a soul. Sometimes the body breaks really badly and can't be fixed, so the soul goes on a journey. Some souls go to Milliways, some we don't know where they go. Our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life. Daddy is sad because Doc's soul has gone on its journey, and he doesn't know if he'll see him again."
Alex seems comforted, whether or not he understood a word of that. He goes over and grabs Guppy's trouser leg, which is the closest he tends to get to hugging. Guppy offers him a hand up, and for once the toddler lets him pick him up to sit on his father's knee.
"That was beautiful." he says to Frogspawn. "It covered most of the likely outcomes without including the words 'Alternate universe' or references to back and forward movements in time." Beat. "The antelope bit was a little odd."
Frogspawn smiles slightly. "Sorry, I stole that line from the Lion King. Speaking of which, let's put the extra long penguin documentary DVD on and get him absorbed in that, then we can get you sorted out, okay?"
"What happened?" Frogspawn asks, the moment he walks in the room. So much for trying not to alarm them. He sighs and sits down on the sofa.
"Doc died." he says quietly.
Frogspawn hugs him tightly, and he hugs back for a long moment.
"Doc died." says a little voice by his feet. Guppy's stomach gets that sinking feeling again as he looks down at the little boy on the floor. Alex is staring at him with a look that seems to say 'Something is wrong, your eyes are wet, I'm scared'.
He swallows hard and pulls out of the hug, looking over at Frogspawn. It's a chilling little repetition out of the mouth of a babe. Alex isn't old enough to understand the concept of death, not really. But at the same time he realises that there's a good chance Alex will know something is happening, and is probably frightened by the uncertainty as much as anything else.
Frogspawn gets off the sofa and sits down next to the toddler.
"Yes Fry, Doc died." she says gently. "People are made up of a body and a soul. Sometimes the body breaks really badly and can't be fixed, so the soul goes on a journey. Some souls go to Milliways, some we don't know where they go. Our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life. Daddy is sad because Doc's soul has gone on its journey, and he doesn't know if he'll see him again."
Alex seems comforted, whether or not he understood a word of that. He goes over and grabs Guppy's trouser leg, which is the closest he tends to get to hugging. Guppy offers him a hand up, and for once the toddler lets him pick him up to sit on his father's knee.
"That was beautiful." he says to Frogspawn. "It covered most of the likely outcomes without including the words 'Alternate universe' or references to back and forward movements in time." Beat. "The antelope bit was a little odd."
Frogspawn smiles slightly. "Sorry, I stole that line from the Lion King. Speaking of which, let's put the extra long penguin documentary DVD on and get him absorbed in that, then we can get you sorted out, okay?"
