Post by Southern Italy on Mar 28, 2017 8:29:56 GMT -7
What was he going to say?
Surely, there had to be more than a mountain of stories and fairy tales etched in his mind of what he could tell his little sister when it was to put her to sleep or entertain her for short spans, but when it came to something regarding himself he was at a loss. The fancy wheelchair was far from comfortable, but it was something at least. All the Italian found himself struggling with was the lies he would have to come up with to convince the youngest sibling of the family the origins of his battle wounds. Ones that he gained while she was watched by his cousin Era, much to Feliciano's dismay. Sure, there was the obvious road to just go all out and tell her exactly what happened; how Feliciano aimed the gun and shot him right in the legs before stomping on them mercilessly only a couple minutes later, leaving him crippled and facing a long road of recovery, but that would be cruel to such a young child. Especially when it wasn't just graphic but, involved the brothers that she seemed to love oh so much herself equally.
So that option was off the table; not that Lovino himself was debating on it long at all in complete honesty and credit to himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to tell Lucia of his brother's sickening deeds; he wanted to keep her sheltered for as long as he possibly could. That was precisely why he already had plans with Alfred behind the said Northern Italian's back to sign the island kingdom micronation over to when the time came and was in desperate need of immediate action. He needed that extra matt of safety to be sure he could continue on with his own protests towards his younger brother. There was always that slight chance of him falling for his brother's dumb tricks, as much as he wanted to doubt it, that he wasn't going to take the risk without a backup plan. In this case, Lucia's safety and protection from the fascist corruption were top priority.
Shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck nervously as the chair was neared the house, Lovino desperately tried to refocus his mind on the problems set in front of him currently. The rest was for the future; for now, he had matters that needed answers right away. Such one was coming up with a bluffing of a tale to convince Lucia that his injuries were in fact, had nothing to do with real violence, especially on Feliciano's part. An animal attack? A phantom bullet? What would be the most nonscarring yet convincing story for the micronation?
It was when the door opened that Lovino took a nervous gulp and called out. "Lucia?"
For some reason this time both her brothers had left for some work in Africa. It was unusual for Lovino to leave with Feliciano as well thus the child was naturally curious at what exactly they were doing. Humans had been tasked with looking after her while both of the Italians had gone to do whatever work they were doing.
Most of her days were spent playing with her toys, eating (5 cookies for breakfast) and sleeping, 9 days after her brother's had left that they were returning home and naturally she was quite excited. Her babysitter suggested that she make them a 'welcome' poster to surprise them when they got home, something which Lucia enthusiastically completed.
While Feliciano and Lovino had far different views on the girl's future, Lucia herself was completely oblivious to her brother's quarrels and fights. She herself saw that they were one happy family, something which the girl wanted to remain forever. Sure, things had changed, her brother's were obviously arguing a lot more than usual, however Lucia noted that the two always argued even before Italy got a new boss, in her view the girl saw everything as it had been. Peaceful.
The babysitter had left an hour before her brother's were due to arrive. Lucia wasn't exactly frightened seeing that she had lived alone before and had occupied herself playing with her toys, running to the window every few minutes to see if her brothers had arrived yet. She had prepared a poster to welcome them back and was planning to give both of them a big hug just to show how much she had missed them.
When the princess was told to leave by her brother and run away to a far off land, to escape from the dragon in her game, she heard the door opening and Lovino calling for her. Squealing in excitement, Lucia grabbed her poster and ran to the front door before opening it.
"WELCOM-....."
Only now noticing that Lovino was in a wheelchair, Lucia felt a wave of concern spread throughout her body... What had happened in Africa? Why did Feliciano look a little bit angry? Why was Lovino in a wheelchair? Whimpering Lucia spoke.
Post by Northern Italy on Apr 13, 2017 19:03:39 GMT -7
The trip back to Europe was very quiet. What had taken place in Ethiopia seemed to be silently agreed that it would stay in Ethiopia, the physical evidence of what had happened unfortunately remained, Feliciano seemed to have left Lovino quite badly injured. Broken bones and ribs were according to the doctor, the elder Italian's main causes for trouble, Feliciano would have looked at the injuries sustained himself it seemed that much more than Lovino's legs were broken, a human had been asked to take a look. Though Lovino's mental state in Feliciano's opinion had not yet been broken, he sensed something had changed in their already strained relationship.
Mussolini was not impressed whatsoever upon hearing what had happened. His Boss was in fact quite furious, after all, how else would relations possibly improve? Crippling Lovino was hardly a good way to improve the relations between the two brothers. The conversation that had taken place back in Asmara had been one of the most angriest Feliciano had heard ever since the fiasco in Greece. While punishment had not been harsh, it clearly had shown how furious the Italian leader was, questioning his mental state and ability to be able to control his emotions, the North Italian was to be brought away from the partisan extermination campaigns and instead be forced to deal with office work in Rome until Mussolini saw fit. The Venetian would oblige to this very direct order.
As he wheeled Lovino to the house, he was not very concerned in the efforts to explain what had happened to Lovino. If Feliciano had it his way, he would teach his younger sister that traitors deserved worse than the loss of the use of their legs. It would be quite humorous to see the Southern Italian explain what had happened to Lucia. Upon entering the house their sister had run to greet them so warmly that the Northern Italian chuckled a little upon seeing the energy the young girl had to just seeing them enter the house. Though this happy moment was cut short when Lucia noticed the chair... Perhaps Lovino should tell Lucia? Whether the Southern Italian told the truth or not was up to the man himself. Alas the girl's mind could be put to rest at a later time in his opinion.
"Salve Lucia, we only just got back! Why don't you give your poor brothers a big hug?"
Post by Southern Italy on May 11, 2017 5:50:21 GMT -7
The silence between himself and his brother was quite painful to sit through, as Lovino himself was far from used to it. Most times the two were seen arguing with one another about one or two problems at a time, sometimes even more. So once they entered the house, it was relieving to hear the pitter patters of tiny feet running the floor, accompanied by the high pitched excited squeal Lovino had grown accustomed to hearing. However, the usual noise was cut short as the girl stopped in front of them, obviously having just noticed the condition Lovino was in. At this, the elder sibling couldn't help but avert his eyes to his own legs, bones most likely shattered at a point somewhere in the lower calves.
"Lovino... Why are you on that chair?"
Here was the question Lovino knew would be following upon his return, and the very one he was not looking forward to answering. Despite his initial planning on what to tell the young child in response to his crippled state, he gave clear hesitation before frowning deeply, just trying to straighten his own mind's panicked fiasco of ideas. Something that wouldn't be too far off, but not the truth... After all, Lovino was determined to keep the girl's eyes shaded from the truth behind the facade he wanted to keep up with her.
"Ah... W-We're home, Lucia..." He muttered, forcing himself to give her a small nervous smile. It came out much weaker than he originally had hoped for it to be so, making him gulp back his initial ideas of a friendly accidental fire to replace it slightly more... fantasized. It was only after he blurted out his response that he nearly groaned, only hoping the small micronation would buy his story. Once he would be able to think clear he would've most likely regretted it, after all. "It's fine... I... Fratello just, had an accident... With a lion! There were many and... I.. Kind of just ran into one..."
Quickly, he attempted to change the subject to shift Lucia's attention away from his own status. "H-How were you? Did you listen to your babysitters and take care of Cosmo in our absence?" He asked, looking around for the said brown tabby cat that the household kept as a pet. Hopefully, for once, he wasn't a self-confident feline with an attitude and actually kept Lucia company... It was then that Feliciano spoke up and made Lovino involuntarily flinch t the voice, before he sighed softly and added on afterwards to his brother's words.
"Salve Lucia, we only just got back! Why don't you give your poor brothers a big hug?"
She had been told that people's legs that hurt really badly had to sit in those chairs. The thought that Lovino could possibly be going through such anguish frightened Lucia. Why Lovino wasn't crying she did not understand, if she went through that kind of pain Lucia knew that she would be in tears for weeks! Perhaps Lovino was more stronger than she had ever realized? Millions of questions were flooding into the girl's mind, how could this have happened?
Lucia never expected to find one of her brother's so badly injured, her eyes begged for Lovino to tell the truth of what had happened, the fact that something so horrible could happen to the Southern Italian was unimaginable for her. Fortunately though, Lovino told her the truth......
"A-a... Lion!?"
Hearing of those fearsome creatures, Lucia covered her mouth in shock to hold back a whimper and more importantly, tears. She had heard of those scary lions in Africa, to hear that Lovino was attacked by one and still managed to walk.... No, wheel away? Was incredible to Lucia. Before she could question how on earth Lovino failed to see the lion come and attack him, her brother tried to change topics, while she did love Cosmo, Lovino's condition was more important than the cat's condition.
"Y-yes, I did listen to her and we did take care of Cosmo bu-"
To be honest, Lucia hadn't exactly behaved as best as she could and in fact acted a very rebellious while her brother's had gone. From incident of having one more cookie than usual, to staying up 10 minutes after her bedtime. Before the girl could continue, her words were cut off when Feliciano suggested that she at least give the two of them a hug. Lucia noticed Lovino flinch which momentarily confuse her, however this was brushed aside as she ran to hug both Feliciano and Lovino.
"I love you two so much! Please be careful and don't get hurt!"
All Lucia wanted was all three of them to be happy together (Cosmo included whom was sleeping on her bed), hopefully her brothers would never have to suffer any kind of pain again.
