No More Good Days (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark reached down and petted the kitty, a sad look on his face. "Nice kitty...I don't know how to do any of that," he admitted. "I've never...I've never had anything like this happen before. Not even close. I don't know what to do about that, or about anything, anymore. I'm sorry I'm such a bad friend," he apologized, "coming to you with all my problems and being upset like this. I don't know how to deal with feeling this way."

[alderwitch]

Alex sighed and restrained the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose as it really wasn't Mark's fault she was getting a headache. Really, she'd gotten spoiled with both Erin and Mike doing so well lately. She took one of those deep breaths that Dr. Marquez was always suggesting to Erin and blew it out, "That's exactly when you should come to us, Mark. We're not going to be upset that you're unhappy, we're gonna try and fix it. Cuz that's what friends do. I'm just trying to give you a little bit of perspective. People deal with the whole feeling bad thing every day and you'll be able to too. I know its new and hard but that's what talking to friends is for. Really."

[Electra]

"It's good to talk to us," Erin agreed, "but you should probably talk to a doctor too. Maybe you and your mom could go to one together, like family counseling. It would probably help you both, at least some. If you're worried enough about her to think she might be mixing up dreams and reality, she probably could use help too, and maybe she doesn't have the same sort of friends to talk to. And you can talk to the headmaster about more powers training. It's good to feel like you're doing something." Oliver seemed to nod in agreement to that, then resumed licking Mark's hair.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I guess you guys are right," said Mark. He still looked, and felt beaten down, but his natural resistance to despair was beginning to return after talking to his friends. He wasn't falling any lower, at least. "I really should talk to the experts...and maybe my mom should too." He sighed softly, then stood up, reluctantly disengaging from that nice kitty. "Thank you for talking to me. I'm sorry I have so many problems right now."

[alderwitch]

"Don't be silly, Mark. Your problems are never a burden. I mean, I've lived with Erin and Mike's been my best friend for ages. I pretty much live off of gloom. It's my super secret secondary power," Alex teased, hoping to get a smile out of Mark and happy she could actually tease Erin these days. She really was doing so much better. "Seriously, though, come and talk any time. We're happy we can help and sometimes that just means being a sympathetic ear."

[Electra]

Erin resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Alex for the friendly slam, and instead tried to build on it. "Yeah, if she can listen to us, she can listen to anybody. And Oliver really seems to like you." Even after Mark had set the cat down, Oliver was still twining himself around the boy's legs, purring and chin-marking the sides of Mark's sneakers. "Sometimes not even talking and just petting a friendly cat can help."