because we can't have nice things ever

[commentboxtroll]

Who: Caesar and Garviel, then Caesar, Millie, Sealand, and so on.
What: ITP: Caesar can't resist getting in one last 'I told you so' before dying again, Garviel has to keep talking to people just before they get axed, and Mayfield traumatizes even more children; so same old, same old.
Where: 2237 Stevens garage and later outside the Goldberg St. house.
When: Sometime during the 25th, well after Virginia's injuries.
Warnings: Blood and death.


[Caesar would have been more than content to remain home much earlier today, to avoid the phones seething with either anger or repetitive calls for calm and whatever foolishness might come out of it all. At least, he'd been content, before some inexplicable force tore Virginia's arm off and threw her violently through a window. Whatever that had been, it had been enough to waken some cold anger in even someone as prone to being level-headed as he was. If there had ever been someone he could rely on to watch his back, who had been doing that since he got dumped in this little slice of hell, it had been her, and there wasn't any way he could get back at the real culprit of her suffering...

But he did happen to know someone else who could at least share in the blame, even if only a little, and that's what brings Caesar to stop at the driveway of 2237 Stevens Road. The slog through the snow and winter chill has, at least, calmed him down enough that he doesn't go storming up to the house like an idiot, but it's not like he'd thought of any other approach before actually getting here. Without that...

Huh. Now what?]

Comments

[commentboxtroll]

[Of all the people to run into...

As irritating as Millie could be, this wasn't something Caesar would ever want to her to witness. Even though he knew she had been a part of a war in the past, somehow he doubts she's ever dealt with the same kind of violence Mayfield intended to inflict upon him in the very near future.

He stops abruptly to grab at a street light, to keep himself from toppling over. Just a moment, a second to recover from a sharp pain, he really needs to move on. Unfortunately, this gives the girl a chance to catch up, though the only greeting she'll get is a very curt one.]

...go back inside, Millie.

[micronation]

[Sealand won't find himself falling to pieces until later in the day, but he's still not feeling that great, as the radiation poisoning creeps back in by inches. Hearing Caesar, he's not sure if he should approach or hide, lest the other boy realize something was wrong, but as he turns the corner he sees it's Caesar who's the one who seems to need looking out for. He runs over.]

Hey! Hey, what's wrong?

[bridesearches]

[ Caesar being curt wasn't going to make her go inside. No, only now closer to him, seeing the way that he grips at the street light, the look of worry is clear on her face and she places a hand on his shoulder and a hand on his arm. ]

What's wrong? Don't you feel well?

[ The other boy gets a look as he approaches and comes over as well, a familiar face Millie sees, but for now she focuses on Caesar. ]

[commentboxtroll]

[And now Sealand, too. There must be some kind of force in this stupid town that draws the people he doesn't want around straight to him at the worst times, how else can this be explained?]

N-nothing. Nothing is wrong. [He brushes Millie's hand off of his shoulder and presses onward towards the house.] Just go home. Both of you.

[micronation]

You don't look okay.

[Sealand moves closer, though not as quickly. Part of him doesn't want to know what's wrong with Caesar, especially with that machine broken.]

[bridesearches]

[ Don't worry, that part won't be humoured with Millie around who wants to know exactly what's going on with Caesar. Whether he moves her hands away from him, she follows next to him - it's not exactly a hard thing to do in his state. ]

Don't lie, you're not looking good, Caesar! Do you want me to help you home?

[commentboxtroll]

It doesn't matter what I look like. I can get back on my—

[Again he has to stop, this time grabbing onto Millie's shoulder to support himself as he doubles over with a wet-sounding cough. He covers his mouth out of habit and it comes away with blood smeared across his palm.

He stares wearily down at it.]

[micronation]

Hey!

[Sealand runs over to grab Caesar, too, not that a twelve-year-old can do much. Still, he looks worried.]

Hey, what happened, did someone attack you or something?

[bridesearches]

[ When Caesar leans on her, her hands go to his side to support him back automatically, about to say a word of her concern, but when she sees the red, the words are caught in her throat. Her eyes widen, knowing what it likely was, but the sight of it there was unbelievable, unnatural.

It proves hard to take her eyes away from it, but she looks up at Caesar's face. ] C-Caesar? Wh-what-- why are you bl-bleeding? Is it a joke?

[commentboxtroll]

[They're right to look worried, because this most certainly isn't a joke. If both of them intend to hold onto him like that, he may as well get them moving, too.]

I wasn't attacked. This is from before. [Sealand might know what that means, though he doubts Millie remembers much from the first Bunker House incident. He wipes the blood off on his shirt.] I want to get back to the house. Can we keep moving?

[micronation]

[Sealand knows what Caesar is referring to, although he doesn't understand how the injuries are coming back now. He kicked France in the shin for that, because Caesar had agreed to be his citizen and France had killed him.

Caesar, as far as Sealand is concerned, is still his citizen. He absolutely has to protect him. Somehow. He shifts to try and support Caesar as well, as much as he can.]

W-we'll get you inside and then we'll fix you and it'll be okay, okay?

[bridesearches]

Yeah, yeah! Y-you don't have to worry, okay!!

[ Millie didn't know. All she knew was the state that Caesar was in now and his words. This time she listened to them, maybe something that would amaze Caesar under different circumstances. Along with Sealand she would help to get him along to his home. Millie knew where to go and how to get there. ]

[commentboxtroll]

No. [He knows this won't be superficial enough to just slap a few bandages on and call it a day and he isn't going to let them believe this is anything other than futile.] Once you get me there, you're going to take Millie home. Immediately.

[With their help, they're making better time. The house isn't too far now.]

[micronation]

What about you? We can't just leave you alone. I could take her home after...

[After he's okay. Caesar has to be okay. They'll make him okay, and then Sealand can take Millie home and everything will be fine because it has to be.]

[bridesearches]

What!? No one's taking Millie home!

[ She stopped walking, but kept hold of Caesar. She looked at them both angrily at trying to exclude her. ] Millie's staying with Caesar!

[commentboxtroll]

Take her home after I die messily all over the living room? No. Millie, you can't stay with me. Peter. [Ugh. When did he start acting so serious? To hell with this town.] You will take her home.

[Once he realizes they've stopped again, thanks to Millie, he sighs and pushes away from her, as well as from Sealand. He'll stagger onward all on his own if he must. He makes it a fair enough distance, too! He reaches the beginning of the sidewalk up to the house before another fit of coughing takes him. The pain in his chest blossoms with it, too sudden, and he falls to his knees.]

[micronation]

[Sealand runs to where Caesar fell, trying to pick him back up on his own. Terrified, he defaults to what he knows at home. Sealand is a micronation, and he was born a fort besides.]

A-are you ordering me to? I-I'll do it if it's an order, but you need to be inside first. Okay?

[Sealand fights back tears, because that's not really very mature of a reaction at all, he's sure of it.]

[bridesearches]

[ Once Caesar begins to move again and Sealand follows him, Millie's not far behind, catching up in little time. ]

You're not taking me home! I won't let you! [ Though she doesn't see Sealand's own expression, she feels her own emotions welling up instead. Confusion, fear, frustration. Her face had turned red at the cheeks. She takes hold of Caesar's arm, to help him back up. ] Millie's going to help and stay! I can carry Caesar all by myself!

[commentboxtroll]

[An order? If it has to be. He needs to stop coughing up blood before he can answer, however, which takes a bit. Either Sealand or Millie are in danger of getting some of that on them if they aren't careful. It's already staining the snow and ice around them...

And the front of his shirt isn't faring too well, but that can't possibly be from what's been coughed up. It looks more like something under it has caused a stain to start creeping across the fabric.]

...hgh... fine... an order. [Caesar finally manages to say that much and struggles to get back up with their help.] Almost there...

[micronation]

[Sealand sniffles, swallows a sob, but doesn't say anything more. He'll follow Caesar's orders, because that's what countries do, they do what their citizens want, and forts do what their commanders tell them, even if he doesn't want to. Caesar's blood on his arm only makes him even more frightened, but he tries not to show it. He isn't doing a very good job.]

W-we're almost inside. Y-you'll... You'll be okay.

[But Sealand is watching the blood stain his shirt and he can't find it in himself to believe what he's saying anymore.]

[bridesearches]

[ Millie's unable to see the blood that starts staining through the front of Caesar's clothing from her position and where she's more concentrated on, but she does see what comes out of his mouth by how it splattered. Parts end up on the arm of her jumper, but she doesn't say anything on it. She just has to get him inside...! ]

[commentboxtroll]

[Figures. The only person in this entire town who will actually take orders from him is the smallest nation ever. He won't bother saying anything more now, not as they cover the final stretch to the front door. Once up there, he'll fumble with the handle and shove it open.

At least he made it inside this time around...]

[micronation]

[Sealand stumbles a little as the door opens abruptly, but doesn't quite fall, instead looking around the house as if he's never seen it before, even though they're all the same inside.]

U-Um, we should put him on--the couch, or something...

[That would be more comfortable than the floor, at least.]

[bridesearches]

O-okay.

[ Millie wasn't about to let him go just at the doorway anyway. Part of ehr was glad though that Sealand didn't bring up about the apparent order to send her away - an order that she wasn't willing to let the young nation go through with, so all the better if they forgot about it. ]

Come on, Caeesar, just this way...! [ And so, Millie will turn to take Caesar towards the couch in the house... ]

Got the green light to tag in!

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's changed back into his physical training uniform and has been busy cleaning his AFS-issued service pistol, sitting on one of the other chairs in the living room. It looks like he's "regained" a few wounds himself, judging by the dressing and bruises visible on some parts of his skin ...]

[At first, Balin thought it was just Caesar at the door when he heard the door open, and didn't look up from doing a final examination of the pistol after having reassembled it, pulling the slide back a few times and dry-firing the pistol at the floor between his feet to make sure it's all working correctly.]

Yo—

[... but at the sound of Sealand and Millie entering the house, he looks up. Seeing that they're carrying a bleeding Caesar, he immediately stands up, holstering his pistol in one swift motion.]

—oh shit, him too?

[He's crossing the distance to help the two with getting Caesar to the couch.]