Chutes and Ladders

He was sick of being here.

It was boring being stuck in a hospital room. He could feel himself getting lazier by the moment the more he laid here. And he was being watched. He could tell. The Healers - they never really left him alone.

Gaze flicking over to the bathroom, he rubbed at his throat. It'd been how long since he'd last thrown up? He could feel his throat loving him for it, but the rest of him felt off. It was just weird not vomiting. It was like - like being off a drug. And he wanted his fix.

Sitting up, Julian frowned, crossing his arms. If someone didn't show up right now, he'd just get up and leave.

"ROAR!!!!"

With that animalistic shout, the nine year old blur ran into the room, bright red rain boots squeaking across the floor as she made a flying leap onto the bed, landing half on top of her big brother.

"Lian!" She exclaimed. "Liaaaan! Why didn't you tell me you were here? I would have come! Look look! I made you a card! See?" She tugged off her backpack and sat up, looking down on her brother with an eager grin. She tugged out the rumpled Prideux blue construction paper and carefully smoothed it out, holding out the heavily fingerpainted, heavily glittered thing. Very carefully, in obvious neatness, three simple words were written.

Get Well, Lian!

That task had taken her nearly ten minutes, but she'd gotten it.

Once he took it, she flopped onto his chest, wrapping her arms around him happily and looking up at him. "Lian." She sighed happily. "I misseded you."

Jumping at the sudden noise, he turned, alarmed, towards the doorway. Something or someone was going to attack him. But as his gaze fall on the blonde blur that'd produced the noise, his expression instantly softened. "Dilly, you - you're here."

Tensing up slightly as she jumped on top of him, he automatically flinched away. Flicking his gaze up to meet hers, he bit his lip before slowly moving back to his original spot. "Well, I didn't really plan on getting stuck here." he joked, laughing despite the seriousness of the situation that had landed him here. "I would've thought that Nine would've said something, or Grandetta, or even Professor Fontaine." Pausing, he tilted his head at her, curious, "How'd you get here anyway?"

Brightening up at the mention of a card, he grinned, "Ooh, really? Thank you." Taking the card from her, his grin widened. This was amazing. He couldn't even really begin to thank her for it. It was nice knowing that people cared.

After a moments hesitation, he hugged her back tightly, "I missed you too, Oddish."

Dille froze. Her eyes widened, and she glanced around the room in barely suppressed fear before it dawned on her. Her brother wasn't cowering away from their father...

He was scared of her.

Scrambling backward and away from the boy, she blinked at him, blue eyes wide with misunderstanding.

"Lian...? Why did you act like I was Daddy?" Her voice was small, almost unintelligible as she curled into a small ball at his feet, bringing her knees to her chest. She peeked out at him over her knees, blue eyes watering.

She just didn't understand.

Following his sister's gaze around the room, he frowned slightly. What was she looking at? There wasn't anyone or anything in the room. At least, not anything remotely interesting. Eyes glued to her, Julian's frown deepened as he fiddled with his hospital clothes.

He was still a little - or a lot, really. He hadn't felt the same since - sensitive to touch ever since he'd been beat up. It was just - he didn't want to be touched. Not by anyone. But he wasn't trying to push them all away. Biting his lip as he watched Odille move away from him, he glanced down at the teddy bear beside him before crawling towards her.

"Hey," he said softly, "I - I'm not. I'm just a little -" shrugging, he rubbed his arms, "It still sort of hurts to be touched." Nodding, he pulled her into his arms. "It's not your fault."

Dille curled into the familiar hold of her brother, closing her eyes against the budding idea that she could hurt him. "Okay." She blinked and grinned again, reaching for her backpack. "Look look! I brought you- I brought you-" She reached into the small thing, tugging out her favorite beaten up stuffed animal - a bunny he had won her at the county faire ages ago - and held it up to him. "Mimzy. To make you better." She nodded, and grinned up at him, blue eyes wide and trusting.

Hugging her as she curled against him, his lips twitched upwards in the beginnings of a smile. It was good to know that there was at least someone in his family who didn't treat him like dirt. Sighing softly at the glumness of that thought, Julian tilted his head at Dilly as she pulled out Mimzy.

Giving both his sister and the bunny grins, he picked up the teddy bear beside him, looking it over before returning his gaze to his sister. "I think Mimzy and Frank here will do great job of getting me better, don't you?"