Honestly, one didn't have to be a great writer or anything like that to notice that sometimes doing something mindless could help ease one's mental or emotional pain until they could face whatever was bothering them head-on or talk it out with someone else who could help them do so. The problem was when that momentary coping mechanism became the only coping mechanism. Like a drug that was taken for every little case of the sniffles, the effectiveness of that strategy dulled until it was completely ineffective.

Yesterday's blunder aside, perhaps Archie going after Gold might help the other man in the long run.

For right now, he'd keep it relatively light. "Any major plans for the day? Because right now mine is just periodically walking Pongo and maybe doing another grocery run later if you give me a list." He gave a shrug. "I can cook well enough but it's largely just the same easy things over and over that I cooked in my dorm in college."