This was a reply to ATSB2-challenge "comforting a character" There is not much comforting in this, though... more of a soothing down the time-bomb.

Face was running across the camp as fast as the slippery ground let him. No good if he slipped and fell, giving catastrophe a chance to strike.

"Hurry!" the guy, who held open the door to the mess, shouted.

Face rushed through. No need to ask where Murdock was, it was plain obvious. He was in a corner, throwing stuff at the people surrounding him, shouting "go away" and less polite things. Cutlery, plates, cups were turned into missiles, thankfully he'd already run out of the chairs.

"Make way, make way," somebody muttered and pushed his comrades aside, forming a gap in the crowd.

Face came to a sudden stop, took a becalming breath, then slowly walked through the gap towards Murdock, who was reaching behind him to snatch another object to throw.

"Hey, Murdock, watcha doing?" Face asked lightly.

Murdock almost let go of the fork he was about to throw, the insane glint in his eyes abating somewhat.

"Wanna play tic tac toe? I feel like a bit of tic tac toe. Whatcha say?" Face sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. Then he patted the bit of floor in front of him. "Come on, sit down. No fun playing when you're standing up."

After only a short moment of hesitation Murdock sat down, but he clutched the fork he held in his hand a bit tighter.

"Ok, do you want to start?" Face acted as if he pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and held it out to Murdock, who didn't take the imaginary pen, but just suspiciously looked at Face's empty hand.

"Ok, if you don't want to start, then I will," Face went on in his monologue. He started to mimic drawing the tic tac toe pattern on the floor between him and Murdock. "But you know, if I start, I will make my X in the middle... No, you prefer the Xs, don't you? Ok, so I'll take the Os, but I'll put my O into the middle square, and therefore I'll win. The one who gets the middle square always wins. You know that, don't you?"

"Nobody ever wins at tic tac toe," Murdock contradicted, loosening his grip on the fork a bit, and shifting into a more comfortable position.

"Prove me wrong," Face answered and made an invisible ringlet into the non-existent pattern with his imaginary pen. Then he handed the pen over to Murdock, who, in favour of making his cross, would have to let go of the fork. – Or play left handed.

Murdock stuffed the fork into his shirt pocket, took the pretend-pen and made a cross.

Face let go a very silent sigh of relief, took the pen back, drew an O.

X – O – X – O

"I won." Face scratched out his invisible line of Os.

Murdock scratched his head.

"You didn't pay enough attention, Murdock. Let's play again. This time you can start, ok?"

Murdock took the pen, drew a new pattern and planted his X into the middle.

"I'll win nonetheless," Face claimed, taking the pen. "I can win even without the middle square."

"You can't." Murdock took the pen back.

"Prove me wrong."

The soldiers at the mess slowly relaxed. Face has saved the situation. For another two or three weeks Murdock would be ok, not stabbing anybody with a fork or knocking anybody out with his boots.

"By the way, what's that fork doing in your pocket, Murdock?" Face asked conversationally while he drew another invisible O.

"Resting."

NTBC = THE END