The Coffee Shop + Street

Posts : 51 Join date : 2010-07-17 Location : Norway

Norway blinked a few times as he felt himself wake up. His vision was all blurry and his memories, they where a sea of fog. His body was also aching all over. Had he gone out drinking last night? He certainly had no memories of doing so...
With a sudden motion he sat up - only to fall back down again as his head collided hard with a table.
"Faen i helvete!" he cursed loudly to himself and held his aching head in his hands. "Satan og..."Why the hell was there a table here!?
No wait...where was "here"?
Norway didn't recognize his surroundings and he couldn't remember how he had got there either.
With wary motions he slowly got himself up and out from under neath the small coffee table and stood up, taking in the scenery. Right, a coffee shop with a very thick layer of dust or some sort of dirt everywhere.
How unusual...

The place was silent like a grave, but that wasn't what bothered Norway the most...
what was truly frightening was that he had somehow ended up inside this shop, under the table, but apart from where he was now standing, there where no traces of footprints or fingerprints anywhere. How had he gotten in here, yet left no trace in the dust?
Norway took a few more steps away from the table and walked up to the counter. The was a tray with two coffee's and a plate with what appeared to be a chocolate-chip cookie, but the layer of dust was so thick, Norway couldn't quite tell. Not a single living thing around, yet everything was in perfect order - no sign of panic. It was if everyone in the coffee shop had turned into dust where they stood and vanished. Norway felt a large shiver run down his back. This was not good.

This place, it was making him shiver and his skin crawl. And for some reason, his fairy companions didn't respond to his summonings - something was definitely not right here...another chill ran down his spine.
This...this was not what he had signed up for.

'Right...better look for some sort of clue that can tell me how I got here...'
Norway went behind the counter and started looking for anything that could be of use to him in this creepy town. After a good ten minutes he found a large cutting knife that was still sharp - he wrapped it in a dish towel and stuck it in his coat pocket. Another rummage gave him a small screwdriver. 'Not bad...but a map would be more helpful...' he mused to himself as he started heading towards the front door. On the way he picked up a few instant coffee sachets and sugar and added those to his pockets - 'emergency rations' he concluded. One could never be too prepared.

The street was just as dead and void of life as the coffee shop and his fairies still did not respond to his summonings, making Norway feel terribly alone and vulnerable. this wasn't the nice kind of alone....this was a nightmare. He really hoped some of the other nations where here - they had all been given the same invitation, so they had to be around here somewhere too...right?
As Norway silently crept along the streets he was terribly wary of any sound made, but every time he though he heard a noise, he found it to only be himself stepping on something in the road. If he didn't find another nation soon, he was sure he'd give himself a heart attack.

Posts : 24 Join date : 2010-07-15 Age : 32

Roderich had been making his way down the staircase. Perhaps this hadn't been his best idea, the metal thing creaked badly with every step the man took, no matter how careful he was trying to be. It was slowing the poor Austrian down more than he wished for, he didn't even know, or care, if the Belarusian who had accompanied him mere moments ago inside, was following him down this set of stairs. No, he did not even dare to look up or glance back to see her. A unsettling feeling washed over him whenever he dared to look at anything but his feet, and the spots they stood on or would be standing on, as if he feared that, when he looked away, everything would crumble under his feet.

How this paranoia had kicked in so bad was a mystery to Roderich's mind. You couldn't say his mind was clouded by confusion, everything was extremely clear so far and he felt there was no need to worry about the gap in his memory. They had been captured by something and were locked away in odd, unfitting, places. There was only worry that might be clouding his judgment that could cause any possible paranoia...a deep sigh escaped him, why was he even thinking about such things, that never helped!

Or did it? There was one positive thing that came out of his worrying about getting paranoid over worrying, which in itself was extremely weird to worry about. He now found himself at the the bottom of the staircase, something he hadn't noticed while lost in thought. That was such a great relief to him and his nerves. He barely had to worry about the last few steps, that was until he got to the broken part, which required a small jump. Now that was something he did not look forward to, at all. And he still refused to look back, to see if Natalia had followed or not. Sounds seemed to be drowned out from his mind as well, so he really had no way of knowing.

“Here goes,” he whispered to himself as he went down for the last time, frying pan firmly held in his hand while the other was dragged over the rough surface of the wall on the right side. There was no way he'd hold onto the staircase itself, just for the thought of what could happen if he did. Really now, why did he fear it so bad? Such a thing was beyond his own understanding, but to do these things, it did make him feel safe regardless of it lacking any form of logic.

And there he stood, at the broken part of the staircase, a tad nervous about having to jump, so of course the Austrian was stalling, staring down at the dark floor below him. He held the frying pan a bit closer as he took in a deep breath. He really did not want to jump down, not at all, what if his coat got stuck? Or he didn't jump far enough and injure himself? Roderich Edelstein did not stand for such things! Which made this a lot more difficult. He had to pull himself back together, he could do this. Roderich told himself that over and over in his mind, biting his lips nervously, frying pan held closely against his chest.

Here it went! Roderich leaped forward and jumped down, landing on his feet. Oh god that hurt! The brunette was crouching, eyes shut tightly as he tried to push past this hellish stinging in his feet, that reached up to his legs. It felt so painful, and numb, at the same time. Thankfully he was on the ground now, that's what counted. There was no saying how happy Roderich was with this now that he looked around. Sounds seemed to reach him again, which sent a horrible shiver down his spine. The Austrian stood back up, holding the frying pan up, ready to strike in case it was needed. You really couldn't be cautious enough, there had been no sign of the Belarusian just yet so he could safely say he was alone, which only made staying alert a whole lot more important.

Roderich didn't like being alone like this, not only wasn't he used to this, he felt more vulnerable as well. Normally he knew he had at least someone to count on, people did rarely leave him alone once the man ventured outside. He longed for some company again, normal, sane and less paranoid company. Not that it was fair to leave the Belarusian like that, but she didn't trust him anyway, did she? And it wasn't like she couldn't follow if she wished to do so, but Roderich surely wouldn't wait to long. With the same caution as inside the apartment did he move, onto the streets, frying pan still ready to strike. His nerves were practically eating the poor man alive, and they only got worse when he spotted a figure, moving around not far up ahead. It seemed to have a normal form, but you could never be to sure. Another shiver, the feeling of being watched was bugging the brunette again.

At least he had a weapon, which beat lingering around in a empty creepy street while something observed his every move. A decision on what to do next was quickly made. The man began to head towards the unknown figure, slowly recognizing the person down the street. “Excuse me!” Roderich called out, walking a bit faster again to catch up with the shorter male. Thank God he had been right, as he got closer he began to recognize the person as Norway.

Posts : 51 Join date : 2010-07-17 Location : Norway

Norway was slowly making his way down the street, pausing often to take in his surroundings and making sure nothing was creeping up on him from behind. 'Faen ta' he swore to himself, where was his god damn troll when he really needed the guy? This place was not a pleasant or friendly place to be in on your own. Erik would have preferred it if some of the other Nordics where here...or at least another nation. He needed a friendly and known face in all this eerie silence. The hairs on the back of his neck where on end - someone, or something was definitely watching him. He could feel it. and it was not a pleasant feeling in the slightest.

Norway spotted movement behind him and immediately came to a halt. From this far away, he couldn't tell if it was friend or foe. His right hand instantly and automatically went to his pocket and the large knife hidden there. Better safe than sorry...a good rule to live by, especially when a supposed world meeting conference has turned into a horror movie scenario.

He started walking slowly again, wondering if the person would follow, or leave. When the figure came closer Norway tightened his grip on the knife handle, and took several deep breaths.

"Excuse me!" - at these words all the tension left Norway and he let go of the knife in his pocket. Austria! thank god it was another nation. He let the dark haired nation catch up with him and re-gain his breath. Was that a frying pan Roderich was holding? Norway couldn't help but smile. Seems like Hungary taught him some tricks over the years.
"Mr. Edelstein...Good to see you" Norway was back to his normal calm and composed self. "You...look...well I supose... Have you seen anyone else around?" He was anxious to find the rest of the Nordics.
Norway constantly kept a watchful eye and never turned to face Austria for long periods of time. The was something wrong with this place, and while he was glad to finally have a companion, safety was, most likely, in numbers in this town. So the more nations they could find, the better.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2010-07-18

He was lost. Not that he had known where he was before, but now he had fully realized that he didn’t recognize anything. Hell, he didn’t even know what country he was in. The houses stood closer to each other, seeing how he got further into the town that he was in. Latvia stopped and looked around; trying to see if there was someone around. Of course there wasn’t any. It scared him. It scared him more than being locked into that room. How could a whole city be empty? He hadn’t dared to go into any other house, but from what he could see from outside the windows was that it looked just like every other city. It was as if this was just one big dollhouse. The only thing missing was the dolls. He didn’t bother to suppress the shudder going through his body, but he fought against the tears wanting to be released. Maybe he was a doll used for playing.

He pulled his hand up to wipe the tears away, but as his hand stung he remembered the wound. Great, so now he had blood on his face too? He sucked on the wound on his hand, trying to get it to stop bleeding and soon the drips of blood stopped running down his hand at least. Tough he still had blood on his face. Raivis started walking again, this time trying to concentrate more on sound than on sight. But he still couldn’t hear anything else than his own steps and the wind that casually flew by his neck at given moments. The cold from it always made a chill go by his spine as it taunted him of being alone, weak, and scared. It was as if someone just put it there to increase the scariness, in hope of breaking him down. He screwed his eyes shut, hoping to close the feeling of being watched out. Like a childish “if I close my eyes it will all go away”.

Then he snapped them open as his foot caught onto something and he managed to catch himself right before falling. He wasn’t allowed to close his eyes and try to forget this. He had to awake so that… so that he wouldn’t be such an easy pray for the enemy. His feet were starting to hurt from walking, and he was getting slightly tired. Were there really no people here? Just as he had that thought, he rounded a corner and spotted two people standing in the middle of the road talking, if what he saw wasn’t an illusion. He recognized them in a moment. One of them was one of the Nordics… Norway he got himself to remember as he concentrated. And the other was the aristocrat Austria. He managed to calm down a bit after seeing them, though they didn’t seem to have noticed him yet. It made him kind of worried that they were both nations. Did that mean that everyone going to the conference had been…? He shook that thought away, and tried to get his voice to work again. It had almost been blocked from his fear.

He tried to remember their names, and finally found them. “Mr. Sørensen! Mr. Edelstein!” He called after them. They were not people he knew very well, but people nonetheless (or nations more precisely). That was enough for him. He started running towards them, hoping that they would have the knowledge he didn’t have. But the wind ruffling his hair slightly told him different.

Posts : 24 Join date : 2010-07-15 Age : 32

Roderich was more then grateful to see the Norwegian stop, it gave him just that bit more time to properly catch up to the blond. Not that he'd been running or anything, but the Austrian wasn't used to this much 'exercise'. Funny, how something as simple as going down a fire escape, jumping and walking tired someone so fast. He should probably consider taking up some sort of activity, to get him into shape for these kind of activities. Really, this was extremely troublesome, having to deal with getting so tired this quickly, it only made him a burden, didn't it? How could he afford to be a burden? Actually, he had to worry about getting out of this abandoned and seemingly dead town, before he'd think of anything that related to his everyday life. Because things weren't going to change back to that anytime soon by the looks of it.

He straightened his back, regaining his composure as he listened to the Norwegian, a faint nod at his first statement. “It's good to see you too,” he informed briefly before he let the other continue. While the other seemed rather calm, the slight anxious tone in his voice was something Roderich couldn't help but notice. It was something he could relate to as well. Much like the Norwegian he himself wanted to find most of the Germans, despite one of them being a complete, annoying idiot. At least he would have people around who he knew well, who he trusted and of whom he knew he could depend on. Not to much of course, Roderich still couldn't afford to be a dead weight to whoever he was with. As he thought of them his grip on the frying pan tightened, he was worried he might not even see them around anymore, such a saddening thought, wasn't it?

“I have only come across miss.Arlovskaya, but I'm afraid that we have gone separate ways.” For now they had gone their separate ways anyway, it seemed, for Roderich really didn't know where the woman had gone too, she might be approaching them for all he knew, but it was more likely her, rather peculiar, obsession with her brother would be guiding her into a whole different direction. There really was no saying what she would and wouldn't do right now. She was armed, and everyone would have to know she could fend for herself. “I don't think we need to worry about her.” he added with a softer voice while he began to look around as well.

Some noise in the distance caught part of his attention, but the Austrian was more worried about still being observed by whatever it was. He felt like a lab rat, which to him was a rather disgusting, if not degrading, comparison. Someone seemed to have simply captured them, put them in this horrid maze and was now observing his little toys, watching them struggle to find any possible exit. That thought seemingly brightened his mood, at least a bit for as far one could feel relieved or happy in a town like this. If it was what he just thought of, if even slightly so, then that meant there had to be a way out! One way or another, there was an exit waiting for them to be found. Obviously that wouldn't be a easy task, to actually find said exit and escape, surely there would be several obstacles thrown at them, but that didn't take away that Roderich now firmly believed in the exit existing. Whether he should stick to that thought or not was not important. As long as there was something to at least keep him going.

Roderich felt some tension leaving him which got him to lower his guard again, which also got him to relax his grip on the frying pan. He was about to suggest they'd move on together, start a search for others. So far it was clear to him there were more nations spread around the town, it was only logical, wasn't it? Everyone was summoned for a world meeting, and here he was, running into his fellow nations in a, now, not so abandoned town. A logic train of thoughts, was it not? To assume everyone summoned was now spread around here? Now it still made no sense as of why they where here, or how they had been managed to be spread like this, but that didn't matter. They knew somewhat more now, just by thinking logical.

But before Roderich truly had the chance to suggest what he wanted, a softer voice behind him interrupted him before he could even utter one word. He lifted the frying pan, which was seemingly becoming a habit of his when he turned to look back, narrowing his eyes with suspicion watching the small figure approach. At first Roderich was taking some steps back, not wanting to face whatever it was directly, until he caught clear sight of the one approaching. Thank God it was only Raivis, there was nothing to worry about. He didn't lower the pan when the boy approached them, not entirely sure if he should trust this appearance, which made little sense since he did trust the Norwegian right away, but that aside.

He hadn't actually expected to see these smaller nations around, for some reason.

Roderich glanced back at Erik with a hint of worry lingering on his features before he turned back to Raivis. At least he didn't look like he was hurt, but he seemed scared. “Raivis, are you alright?” seems that concern was stronger than distrust in the end. Finally the frying pan was lowered to his side, with a defeated sigh. “I don't suppose you ran into anyone?” It wouldn't make sense of Raivis of all people would venture off on his own after a encounter with, well, anyone.

Posts : 51 Join date : 2010-07-17 Location : Norway

"You've met Belarus?" Norway was hoping she had also followed, but chances where she had gone off to find her brother. She might be rather violent, but she was good at fighting, and that could come in handy. Erik was better with a sword than a kitchen knife, but Belarus was an expert with knives, so having her around would have been good. But Oh well. The Austrian man was a good strategist and highly intelligent. That would most likely come in more handy than strength. Norway was running through possible scenarios in his head.
could it be that there was some logic to where each of them had woken up, or was it all random? He had woken up in a place where he usually really liked to go...was that the case with everyone? He would have to ask the Austrian man later.
And this feeling of being watched all the time - like pieces on a board game - it was unnerving and very unpleasant. "She's a strong woman..I know she can take care of herself, but more people would be nice..." he trailed off and want quiet for a while. Listening for any more sounds...he hated beeing this much on edge - it no longer came as natural as it had when he was younger.

Erik was willing to bet all the coffee he had on him that Roderich was eager to find his friends and 'family' as much as he wanted to find his...they would just have to stick together until they found more nations. At this given point Norway would actually be happy to find Russia here. While he was a bit creepy, no one could deny that he wasn't a strong nation. Maybe if they where lucky Belarus had already found him and was heading towards them.... Norway was seldom this optimistic, but desperate times calls for desperate measures.

At another new voice Norway again tensed, but once he recognize the voice he let himself relax again for a moment. He hoped Austria had not noticed...He had to earch his mind to rember the small nation's name - Latvia was not someone he interacted with a lot.
"Raivis...you're hurt?...there is some blood on you" Norway mentioned to Latvia's blood smear "...are you okay?" Norway immediately began unwrapping the kitchen towel he had wrapped the knife in and ripped a long thin strip out of it - creating a make-shift bandage. "Here, want me to bandage it for you?" He motioned to the wound on Latvia's hand. He seemed to have stopped the bleeding himself, but what if it got infected? This town was far from clean...Not that he could ensure the dish cloth was much better, but it was at least something to keep any more dirt and grime away.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2010-07-18

They both seemed almost as tensed as him, though, getting up to that point was practically impossible. His eyes scanned them hesitantly, trying to see how long they had been here. Not too long, he thought as he looked at their clothes and such, probably somewhere around as long as him. The clothes they had had that small amount of dust and dirt that was all over the place. But if they were here… he didn’t quite know that much of how good they could fight, but they were surely stronger than him, so Raivis had not been taken here just because he wasn’t strong enough to fight back. Roderich seemed to have taken a frying pan as protection and was holding it tightly. The heavy object looked kind of strange in the aristocrat’s hands, but he could with no doubt use it. He couldn’t quite see what Erik held, since it was wrapped, but from its form… it was probably a knife of any sorts. Raivis suddenly cursed himself for taking something as a weapon. Just a glass shard would have been great. But of course he hadn’t thought of that. He looked at Roderich realizing that he had spoken.

“N-no… you are the first ones that I’ve seen…” he answered quietly shaking his head; he really hadn’t seen anyone since he came here, well except the one attacking. But he could not even figure out what it was he had seen, the hit had beaten it from his mind. If only he had seen enough to know what had brought them here. It wouldn’t be logical for the enemy to only bring a couple of random nations; it was more likely that the enemy (or enemies?) had brought all of the nations going to the world conference. But why was still the one question needing an answer. The feeling of being a toy in a dollhouse came again and he suppressed that shudder that seemed to come as normal now as his usual trembling. Well, at least he wasn’t alone anymore.

He looked at his wound after Erik’s question; it was turning a bit black at the edges coming from dirt swirling around in the air. For a moment he had forgotten about it, but that sticking pain that came every time he clenched or opened his hand was enough to remind him of it. “I just cut myself on some glass shards so it’s not that dangerous but…” He accepted the offer, deciding that getting sick was probably the worst thing that could happen. They had no way to call an ambulance after all. If someone got hurt… they would have to solve it themselves. Latvia had a bit of knowledge about tending wound and such, it was necessary with all the wars nation’s like him was dragged back and forth in, but he let the elder nation wrap the cloth around his hand. He would probably just mess up if he did it himself, and have to ask the others to help him anyway.

He was being grateful for the help, and incredible relived that he was with some other, it was comfortable. But he couldn’t rely fully on them, and he didn’t want to such a burden… maybe the first step while looking for other nation’s being there (they just had to be more than them!) would be finding himself a weapon?

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