— SEND ME A 🔫 AND MY MUSE WILL BE SHOT IN FRONT OF YOURS.
It was common knowledge that Cirus liked to drag Raphael along wherever her went, like a dog to pull with him on an invisible leash. To the soldier, it was nothing but a giant waste of time in which he could be doing something more useful –– to the general, there was nothing Raphael could do with his time that would be more useful than pleasing him.
There were a few tasks, though, where the older man would not care for his dog’s company, for example when he went out to visit the homes of poor, foolish souls that did nothing but show some camaraderie to the wrong people –– though surely those were the ones that needed it most during these times.On such days, Raphael was usually either dismissed early or just got ‘the day off’, which meant he’d get some extra time to focus on his actual job.
Not today, however, today he’d put on his grey uniform and fit right in with the regular soldiers –– hardly anyone would dare to look at them long enough to realize he wasn’t wearing patches to designate the belonging to any unit like the others did.Although he was by far not the formal type, even a dress uniform was still far more preferable than having to come along in the damn maid dress.
The only reason he was coming along in the first place, though, was naturally no other than one of the general’s whims, accompanied by his laziness that caused him to order Raphael to carry him there, rather than walking through town himself.Beside that, though, the brunette saw no use for himself; waiting outside while listening to the sound of gunshots and screaming spilling out from the open front door.The shots stopped first, the screaming didn’t –– naturally, Cirus would keep the family alive for a bit longer. He wanted to rape the woman, maybe the child, either way he would be taking his time –– and wasting Raphael’s.
He stood by the door idly, telling any passerby to ignore the noise and keep walking if they wanted to live, but other than that.. things were rather uneventful and boring.
Sometimes he would wonder how he ended up serving such a madman, or why he was wasting his life and skills on the pointless tasks he was given. But it’s not like he could say ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’ and quit now, no, it was either keeping this up or facing execution.And that, despite the constant humiliation, sure as hell wasn’t a hard choice to make.
So he silently waited until the screaming and wailing of what sounded like the child’s voice stopped, and turned to look only once the general stepped back out to him, looking quite satisfied with himself and –– surprisingly still quite clean, too.Naturally, the only thing Cirus said to him was the order to pick him back up and carry him home, which Raphael did – –––––Although he only got to take three steps away from the door until he heard one of the other soldiers behind his back yell out.
‘GUN!!’
And it didn’t take a genius to figure out, in that split second, who said gun was most likely pointed at.Now, Raphael is perfectly capable of making quick decisions; and the decisions he made were practical and more often than not the right ones in that specific situations.But that didn’t mean they were the strategically smartest move in the long run.
So what he did the moment he heard those words, was… Let go and let Cirus drop to the ground.
No sooner had he done that, maybe the other’s body hadn’t even hit the concrete yet, he could hear a gunshot ring out, simultaneously to a searing hot pain that stabbed right through his shoulder blade –– and another one that went somewhere through his stomach.Given, the first one had probably missed the general’s body even if Raphael had continued to hold him, but the second one was aimed well –– not necessarily lethal for the soldier, but after exiting his body it otherwise would’ve pierced sideways through both of Sullivan’s lungs.
Although the sudden pain made his body flinch by instinct, it didn’t overpower his mind to the point where he wouldn’t reach for his gun first thing now that his hands were free –– although there was no need to, the following gunshots told him the remaining soldiers behind him had already killed the enraged father.And as much as Raphael wanted to set them all straight right then for missing him getting hold of a weapon in the first place, there was actually an even bigger issue right by his feet –– an issue even more immediate than the blood rapidly soaking into the grey fabric of his uniform’s jacket.
And if one of the soldiers behind him had felt the urge to say something, or even try and help –– none of them dared to do as much as breathe as they watched the General get up from the ground, turning to look up at Raphael with disbelief at first, although his porcelain face seemed to be rapidly reddening with anger.
‘WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO?!’
It was a young soldier, not older than twenty years, that winced –– not only at the general’s shouting, but also at the fact that the man hadn’t yet noticed that he had gotten some of the street’s dust and dirt on his face and hair.Maybe they wished upon Raphael, that he had just gotten shot in the heart instead –– even what would be a more thankful fate than what he had coming.
Everything seemed to stand still for the men, nobody daring to make a sound as Sullivan continued screaming, the only thing proving that time was in fact still moving were the slowly growing patches of red on the tallest one’s clothes.
He only stood, staring silently into his superior’s infuriated face –– his own still showed no emotion, not even with the feeling of his own, warm blood freely running out of his body. There was no hint to betray the pain such injuries were sure to bring; though surely it was only a matter of time.After all, stubbornness doesn’t cancel out excessive loss of blood.
The sudden silence almost felt unreal, and for a moment nobody could tell why it was that the general had stopped yelling, but surely enough it was due to the fact that eventually his gaze had lowered –– or maybe the smell of blood had ticked him off –– enough to see the dark crimson stain right in front of his eyes, which for some reason seemed to calm him down somewhat.Of course, he just loved seeing other people bleed.
‘..and what is that?’ he would ask, once again getting no answer partly due to the fact that nobody knew what to reply to such an obvious thing, and partly due to the fact that Cirus had lifted his hand to poke around at the area, trying to find the source of the blood.Raphael only watched, knowing better than to say it was the reason he dropped the other man –– implying he did it on purpose would most likely only result in instant death.So, instead of speaking, he made the smart decision to simply grit his teeth, following the hunch he head about what the general was going to do once he found the wound –– which was now.The soldiers could just about make out the smile finding its back onto Cirus’ face as he pushed one of his fingers in.Seeing how far it’d go and wiggling it around; Raphael’s mind was not even taken in by the pain, but rather by how disgusting it felt to have someone stick their fingers inside of his body. It made him want to throw up, yet it was different and new and alluring to a part of his mind –– which, naturally, was a part he tended to disregard.
A few uneven breaths and a flutter of his eyelids later, he could feel the finger disappear and allow the blood to flow even more freely than before as his vision refocused on the general’s –– still dirty but thank god he hasn’t noticed yet –– face, telling him to carry him home and accept his punishment there.
However he was going to carry that extra weight on an arm he should better not be moving and muscles he should not be putting strain on, that was left for the minds of the soldiers to wonder.But still, it was either this or death.And after all, that was quite an easy choice to make.
"Hey. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY." He is in his poke Raphael until he pays attention to him mode.
Pouring drinks without spilling anything despite being poked relentlessly by an annoying man-child is another thing to add to his list of skills –– if he wants to find another job as a maid somewhere else, that is.
"Hey, yeah, listen, you're in Moscow right?" He called him through the phone. God knows how. "Yeah, listen, I'm in Saudi Arabia and I want you here in ten minutes to tell me how handsome my face is, ok?"
“–– ––––Sir, I’m in the Amazon Rainforest.”
There was close to zero reception in this godforsaken green hell, but if there were thirty seconds where his phone did catch a signal –– trust Cirus to call him in that exact moment.
“But I’m sure your face is more handsome than ever today, Sir.”Maybe he should just never come back. People get lost in the jungle all the time.
“Sir, I’ll bring you another mirror as a souvenir when I get back, okay?”Trust the general to make a mission in a land full of diseases, potentially dangerous animals and untrustworthy humans look like a relaxing summer vacation.
