[This a quiet response to - all of it, really, the obvious grief, the guilt, Caesar's own misplaced rage at the thought that someone would hurt Joseph's daughter. He doesn't have the right to feel this, he knows, it isn't his life that's being devastated, his life is over, but - all the same, it's what he wanted, whenever he thought past the immediate need for vengeance. A family, someone to protect. If he can't protect Joseph or his family and he doesn't have his own, what good is he?]
[He shakes his head abruptly at that - it's my fault - no.]
I don't mind.
[He does, a little, but it's clear that there's already too much on Jotaro's shoulders. He's so young, younger than Joseph was, he must be, and he shouldn't need to be bearing this weight. He's obviously strong, but any more might crush him.]
[There's got to be something more to say, something better. You didn't do anything wrong - but Caesar doesn't know that, and he won't offer false comfort. Instead, after a moment's hesitation, he gives up something else, his own gaze focused on a point just past Jotaro's shoulder.]
They were poisoning him, you know. The ones we were fighting. They gave him a month to get good enough to beat him, and then he would die. Like it was a game. [A stupid bluff, one of those classic Joseph moves that got him in more trouble than it got him out of. His lip twists, remembering it, and it's hard to tell if he's smiling or frowning.] When I knew . . . I was dying . . . I made sure to get the antidote, because it was important to me that he have the chance to live.
So it's . . . [He smiles, although it hurts, and refocuses on Jotaro, even though that hurts, too.] It's good to see you. Even though you didn't know, it's good that I know you exist.
no subject
[This a quiet response to - all of it, really, the obvious grief, the guilt, Caesar's own misplaced rage at the thought that someone would hurt Joseph's daughter. He doesn't have the right to feel this, he knows, it isn't his life that's being devastated, his life is over, but - all the same, it's what he wanted, whenever he thought past the immediate need for vengeance. A family, someone to protect. If he can't protect Joseph or his family and he doesn't have his own, what good is he?]
[He shakes his head abruptly at that - it's my fault - no.]
I don't mind.
[He does, a little, but it's clear that there's already too much on Jotaro's shoulders. He's so young, younger than Joseph was, he must be, and he shouldn't need to be bearing this weight. He's obviously strong, but any more might crush him.]
[There's got to be something more to say, something better. You didn't do anything wrong - but Caesar doesn't know that, and he won't offer false comfort. Instead, after a moment's hesitation, he gives up something else, his own gaze focused on a point just past Jotaro's shoulder.]
They were poisoning him, you know. The ones we were fighting. They gave him a month to get good enough to beat him, and then he would die. Like it was a game. [A stupid bluff, one of those classic Joseph moves that got him in more trouble than it got him out of. His lip twists, remembering it, and it's hard to tell if he's smiling or frowning.] When I knew . . . I was dying . . . I made sure to get the antidote, because it was important to me that he have the chance to live.
So it's . . . [He smiles, although it hurts, and refocuses on Jotaro, even though that hurts, too.] It's good to see you. Even though you didn't know, it's good that I know you exist.