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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:04 pm
Milton. See me post-mission.
Those four words (five if you didn't include the hyphen) were why Before was camping out in front of the return portal. At the time this order was given, the Life Hunter Trainee had translated it as: "Half of you will die. You, Before, don't belong to that half. So you will be free to see me after the mission." Which he, more stupidly rather than naively, interpretted as the Death Hunter Leader having faith in him.
Throughout the mission, Before was filled with varying emotions (panic, nausea, anxiety, OMFG I'M GOING TO DIE) but all throughout he was determined to live to prove Caelius right. And then he saw the treatment of that poor newbie who failed to follow the order of cease fire. Only then did it occur to Before just how ********> he was.
So. Why was he here instead of digging his own grave? Well, there was no point in running and Caelius didn't look like he gave brownie points for being prepared. He might even call Before a suck up and... well... that was not the sort of result he was going for. He was going to face his death sentence (ironic he was sorted into the Life division when he obviously didn't have long to live) head-on, back straight, stomach in, and chest out.
Unfortunately, he didn't know where Caelius wanted to execute him so he figured might as well wait at the portal for when Caelius and any other survivor returned. The wait took longer than he thought and with the adrenaline wearing off, he soon found himself asleep.
While standing up. Yeah... He isn't sure how he does that either.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:55 pm
When Caelius stepped out of the portal, covered mostly in bits of rotting flesh and black residue, the last thing he really wanted to see was a trainee sleeping on the job post mission. The very exact same trainee he had asked to see regarding their errant behaviour.
Two fat 'x' marks. Third one and strike out.
Not giving head or tails and practically pushing aside the Hunters who had run to clean things up post Sahara incident, the Death Hunter leader stalked over to before, grabbing the first thing he saw - another Hunter - grabbing them by the hem of their coat and literally shoving them towards Milton. Both of them toppled to the ground like bowling pins, the grabbed Sun Hunter immediately rolling back up to give Caelius a Very Confused Expression.
"Training practice." The Death Hunter explained smoothly, before the Sun Hunter let it go and simply decided that avoidance was probably key in this situation. He waited barely a few seconds for Milton to recover, expression as unreadable - tense - as always. "Milton. Are you trying to impress me with your outstanding behaviour."
His tone dripping levels of both anger and sarcasm proved he found nothing amusing about the situation.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:30 am
Before didn't even know when he had fallen asleep. Just that there was suddenly something that careened into him and a tangle of limbs later grounded him. He scrambled to his feet, teal eyes wide in terror and horror and already imagining all sorts of doomsday scenarios. None of them were even half as scary as the sight of Caelius.
Oh yes. He was definitely ******** style="color: steelblue">"N-no sir! S-sorry sir! J-just thought I'd wait for you by the portal as you ordered to see you post-mission. And uh you were kinda busy with other stuff that I'm sure was way too important for trainees to handle." He was talking a mile-a-minute here, like he had just eaten a batch of special cookies only without the happy-yay-glee that came with it. Realizing he was rambling, Before promptly shut the ******** up, praying in his head despite knowing very well how dead he was going to be.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:26 pm
It took Caelius him some effort to remind himself that he was listening to Milton and not an insiginficiant smudge of mud on the ground. Which suddenly promoted the smudge of mud on the ground to a higher position. "Come with me." With one more look that pretty much said 'Get lost on the way and I'll kill you', he turned around and began walking at a brisk pace.
They neared the outskirts of the training field, closer towards the main building until they were at a strange, small enclosing, a small patch of even green grass with strange tablets half-embedded into the ground. Upon closer inspection, each of these tablets had a name - but oddly no date. Just a single engraved name on each polished surface. The Death Hunter let the trainee observe their settings, let him realize what the tablets were really for.
"There are times when a Hunter is forcefully retired. Most of the time, almost always, their bodies are unable to be recovered. They have no families that will grieve for them because they abandoned them for their duties." Caelius gave the trainee a strange look. "Do you know why we die, Milton?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:29 pm
(( Proxy posting for Huni ))
Before hurried to keep up with the Death Hunter, knowing how he was already on thin ice coupled with that glare made his anxiety increase ten-fold. He didn't know where they were going, but it was obvious he was going to find out and he didn't doubt wherever it was, whatever Caelius was going to show him, he wasn't going to like.
They came to a small patch of land with tablets poking through the ground. Wait... as they got closer it became apparent just what exactly they were. Teal eyes widened and he went stock still. OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod Caelius really was going to kill him!!! Why else would he be brought to a graveyard? He struggled to listen to the Death Hunter over the pounding in his ears.
Forcibly removed, body never recovered, Do you know why we die, Milton.
"Mistakes, sir," the whispered words were out of his mouth before Before even realized he said anything. Before knew he made a ******** of mistakes, knew he always paid for them. And now it seemed like the price was steeper than usual.
Before waited expectently for the order to start digging his own grave.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:55 pm
"Mistakes." Caelius repeated, giving Milton his full attention. "Mistakes from being inexperienced, from ignoring important points and preparation pre-mission. Mistakes from ignorance and general stupidity. Mistakes from oversight, and most of all, mistakes from disregarding orders."
He walked to the very end of the rows, where they were ready to prepare three more markers, small grooves already etched into the dirt, face unreadable. "And now, more mistakes. Can you tell me, trainee, why we do not bury the bodies of the deceased?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:07 pm
(( Still proxying! ))
Barely, Before managed to keep himself from giving Caelius his knee-jerk reaction of Because you bury them alive? Teal eyes fixed focused on the grooves, brows furrowing as he tried to understand why there would be three of them. And again he had to keep himself from asking if this meant he was going to get sliced into three. Because that seemed like a waste of space.
Of the types of mistakes the Death Hunter listed, Before felt that the last type was the only one he wasn't guilty of. Yes, he screwed up a great deal of times for all the listed reason but disregarding orders was not something he actively did. Keeping quiet in classes aside.
"I-I'm afraid I don't know, sir," he gulped, bracing himself for... he's not sure what but he's anticipating something.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:33 am
And then Caelius all but lost it.
"Because," he roared, shoving Milton backwards with enough force to send the trainee backwards onto the tombstones, "Of idiots like you. Hunters don't come back because in the end, their teammates were ******** incompetent. They die because of people like you. People like you, who make mistakes."
While it was somewhat justified that the Death Hunter was in general a moody, unpredictable person, he was being almost unreasonable moody and unpredictable. Sure, Milton had had the audacity to speak out during a mission debriefing, but so had several, countless others. Why the Death Hunter was choosing now to lash out -
- "Get up trainee." Caelius turned around, choosing instead, to look at the three etched grooves. They would be planted soon with names - with <******** names of assistants who ******** themselves up by bringing trainees along that they could not handle and - "I am sure the Hunter you saw in our last little mission would be rather annoyed at you taking up their space. And those prior to them. I would be if I knew someone like you killed me."
Silence again. Was Caelius going to lash out or...? "You are dismissed trainee. I hope you learn a little from these mistakes." The Death Hunter did not move from his spot.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Before's back suddenly became very close with the tombstones, having braced himself or not the outcome would have been the same. Terror and the sensation of his life flashing before his eyes (and if it had been a movie he would have walked out of the theater and demanded for his money back). When Caelius continued with his tirade, the trainee only grit his teeth and listened.
He was waiting for the chewing out of his life! He thought there'd be obsceneties and curses directed at him followed by several deep gashes from that scythe he'd become familiar with. Except Caelius was suddenly dismissing him? W-what? It was over? Really?
No, that had to be a psyche out... but if it wasn't... Before scrambled to his feet, grateful he was no worse for wear physically. But while he was still intact, the guilt of being the reason someone died would soon take care of that. "S-Sir? P-permission to ask something, please?" the trainee's voice was small and faint, especially in the wake of Caelius' heated lecture.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:38 pm
By the time the trainee finished asking his question, Caelius had already taken out his cell phone, glowering at it while punching each key with enough force to merit - yet another - replacement phone. This action dragged on for a good couple of minutes before the Death Hunter finally spoke up.
"I suggest, Milton, that you get yourself cleaned up instead of taking the time ask me questions at your leisure. Unless it is somewhat pertinent information from our last mission that needs to be reported immediately, or anything that is crucial at this exact point in time, it will have to wait." He looked up sharply at the trainee, as if asking them if they were secretly awaiting a more Spartan form of punishment.
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:30 am
Before tried his very best not to squeak when Caelius fixed his glare-beam at him. He screwed his courage to the sticking place, which in this case was just enough to keep him from bolting as he quickly stammered out, "W-what can I do to learn how to stop making mistakes?" He was sincere and earnest in his desire to stop being such a huge ******** but it was so easy, so simple to fall back to his old habits. Before he lost his nerve, he hastily continued "S-so that I-I won't be why there are more of these!"
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:44 pm
Of course, instead of answering, Caelius had his full attention to whomever had decided to call him at this rather convenient time, giving Milton a look that pretty much summarized to 'I will kill you next time if even a word leaves your mouth, again' as he simply left, leaving the trainee staring at the rows of unrecognizable names.
It was too bad the gravestones could not talk, or share, their own mistakes.
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