What can go wrong with afternoon shopping? (Cecil/Isabella)

Cecil seems unconvinced, but he backs off at Isabella's insistence.

As Isabella asks for assistance, he tries for a wry smile as he picks up her shopping. "I thought I'd already basically said I'd intended to do that?" He chuckles awkwardly, and sighs a little. "I have to be honest, people fainting without warning is the sort of thing that leaves me kind of worried for their ability to get around safely. I don't think I'd be able to leave that alone..." He thinks back, and frowns as he moves back over to help Isabella. "Well...not unless someone was really determined to get rid of me."

She somehow muster a chuckle during this. "It's not necessarily completely without warning. There are certain symptoms I can look out for that usually tell me that I need to slow down, at least when I know to look out for said symptoms. But that's hardly much of an improvement." She'd explain, as she begins walking, slowly.

"It's not that I'd want to get rid of you, I can't even put into words how thankful I am for your help. But, well... Let's say I've a few choice words for that intern which I'd rather you not have to listen to. And my home is all the way back in Vista Square, there's no way I could ask you take me all the way back there." Isabella then went on to give out her reasoning of choosing a taxi, though offering Cecil a smile as she spoke.

Cecil matches Isabella's pace with care as her shopping dangles from his hand. "No, it's, it's not like I meant you, I didn't mean to say-" He cuts himself off with a groan when he realises he's once more fumbling over his words. "I just remembered something. Though...I doubt you can say too much I wouldn't be able to overhear in school. Or, well, something on a similar level, anyway." He shrugs. "Still - if you needed it, I would help you back there. My time is more than worth someone's safety."

She would listen to him, at first not offering any responses. He's probably right, what's the worst she could say a boy his age hasn't already heard, or worse, been the target of? But what he'd say next, made her stop. Her gaze dropped, and a shudder ran through her. A droplet would run down her right cheek, a tear. Then came the first sob. And then another. Her right hand rose up to her face as she shivered, and continued to sob, her right cheek quickly growing wet. The left cheek however remained devoid of tears.

"Thank you..." Isabella would manage to whisper amidst her sobs.

As Isabella came to a halt and started to shake, he stopped and looked over to ask if everything was alright. If she needed to stop, rest, take a moment.
The falling teardrops and the sounds of sobbing came as a shock, though, and it was all he could do to figure out what he'd done wrong. What he'd said, what actions he'd taken, what things he'd utterly failed to-

And again, he was struck by a cold shock a second time as a quiet voice uttered its thanks.

"Hey, hey...no need for that. No need to thank me or anything. It's the least I can do." He smiled with what he hoped was reassurance, and was in reality a little more worried than he'd have liked to convey. It hurt that something like this was enough to reduce the woman to tears, and he could only wonder just how things could have reached this point. "This isn't anything special. It shouldn't be anything special. And it's a more worthwhile thing than anything I would have used my time for otherwise."

Special? Maybe not to him. But to her, it meant so much, and to actually feel the intent behind the words was genuine. "Y-you're... Right. It... It shouldn't be-" A small hiccup cut her off. "Shouldn't be anything special... Shouldn't." Her voice trembled at she spoke, still interspersed with the occasional sob. But she was trying to keep it together.

"But it is. To me." The blonde shook her head, and drew in a a long, sharp breath. It's been years... Since anyone honestly told me, that I alone was worth more than there time. It was always something else besides just me. Money, favors..." As She went on to explain, her sobbing all but seized, instead a tone of anger began overtaking her voice, bitter vitriol. By the end of it, she even couldn't finish, instead a sudden shriek of fury erupting from her lips, accompanied by her left hand, now clenched into a fist bashing against the wall... Actually causing small but visible cracking and a minute depression in the concrete.

Her sudden expression of anger was not of course, without consequence, as her knees would gave out, the momentary rush depriving her of consciousness for about a second. She'd fall to her knees, lefthand just coming down to stop her fall, while her right hand cradled her head.

The pain didn't recede. It didn't disperse, it didn't subside, it swelled and expanded in a way that ripped away at everything else to make room for it. There was something deeply, terribly, utterly wrong that this was a fact of this woman's life, and it was even more horrific that he wasn't able to be surprised about it. He really, really wanted to, but he just couldn't.
He surged in to catch her again as she fell after her sudden outburst, his eyes flicking to the cracks and wondering just how she managed it and just what he'd stumbled upon in Isabelle. "Well...I'm doing it now. Better to be happy about that now than to..." He looks again at the depression. "...damage things in rage."

Her eyes immediately shot to her hand, pupil open wide. The pink didn't loo like it was moving normally, and it looked like the covering might have been damaged there as well. As that burst of anger began to subside, she became very much aware of the whirring in her left ear, quite strong too, though thankfully at least not audible to the outside unless someone pressed right up against her.. "No, gotta... Calm down, calm down." She could already feel the heat building up, so she slipped her left hand into her pocket. She just hoped that the coverings didn't start melting.

But the boy was right. "You... You're right." She admitted, before turning her back to the wall, slowly sliding down into a sitting position. "I'm just... Not thinking straight." Isabella closed her eyes, and focused on her breathing, letting herself calm down again. The whirring in her ear would slwoly begin to subside. The buildup of heat would take a moment to subside though "Just... Give me a minute to calm down. I'll call us a taxi, they can take us to the pharmacy, and then to vista square from there." Her face was still pointed to the ground, eyes still closed. But she'd open her eyes after a moment. "Do you mind if I ask what part of the city you live in?"

"I...kind of had a feeling." He looked around as Isabella slid down against the wall, wary of anyone that might have seen what happened and intended to raise issues.
A hesitant expression covers Cecil's face as Isabella asks about where he lives, and while he might be prepared to give a more general answer, he's still hesitant about telling someone he doesn't know that well any specifics. "Why do you want to know, exactly...?"

Isabella had pulled out her phone, and begun tapping at the screen, before her attention turned back to Cecil. His initial comment had not warranted a response, but once he'd asked her reasoning for asking where he lived, she would clear her throat. I'll pay the taxi driver to take you home once they drop me off at my apartment, it's the least I can do. And if I have some idea on where you live, I can somewhat judge how much I'll give the driver."

"Uh - ah." Cecil chuckles awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head. "Okay, uh...yeah that makes sense. Kind of obvious now that you say it. Not sure why that didn't occur to me." He smiles weakly. "...Sunlake. But, uh...you don't have to do that. I'll be fine."

She could help but chuckle at this. "You know Cecil, you're a funny one. Chances are you just saved me, essentially a complete stranger... Probably several hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in hospital bills, yet you won't even let me spend the twenty-to-thirty it'd maybe at most cost to get you a taxi ride home? She'd lower the phone for a moment. "if you just hadn't shown me what an upstanding young man you are in the last ten minutes, I might have imagined you having some ulterior motives." Her tone seemed quite a bit more relaxed, the way she spoke making it fairly clear the last part was meant as a joke.

Cecil seemed surprised at the revelation that going to help her had just saved her massive amounts of money. The information was enough to stun him briefly, eyes widening a little as his expression went blank. But soon, he came back into focus, continuing to wave things off. "Is it really that weird that I'd prefer you save your money for better things? I mean, it's cheaper than the bills as you just said, but it's still money that you really don't need to be spending."

She'd raised the phone back up, tapping at the screen. "Weird? I don't think that's the word I'd use. But if you so insist, then I won't push it further." She smiled a bit, though didn't look at, instead tapping at the phone. "I'm gonna make that call now. Can you go wait on the street so the driver knows where to stop? I'll ask them to bring a wheelchair just to be safe. Though I should be fine as long as I avoid any sudden movement or exertion." Her attention drew back to Cecil as she now addressed him directly, her thumb hovering above the screen of the phone.

Cecil gives Isabella a small, quick nod. "If you say so...I'll head out to wait for the taxi then." He smiles weakly. "Try not to knock yourself out while I'm waiting for it?"
After a moment's hesitation, he sets down Isabella's groceries next to her and heads out to the street to wait for the taxi. Time to time he glances back at where Isabella is, somewhat paranoid that something might happen while he wasn't looking.