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Post by lithuania on Feb 16, 2013 23:22:21 GMT -6
Gaze veering toward the desk nearest him, Toris eyed the workspace across the top without surprise over how clear and organized it was. That cleanliness graced other desks around the room and various book awaiting their next reader made it apparent where he'd wandered into. A study! The manor's size can almost pass as a castle so it could have pretty much about everything, in which case I've many rooms left in my search unless I figure out sooner how to leave. In another second his expression clouded over, struck with another realization that caused his eyes to lower following the desk downward until they reached the floor. First I must find everyone though, I can't abandon Poland, Belarus, Estonia and Latvia to these monsters no matter if I find an exit. Mr. America is around in the manor somewhere too.
What room, or even floor, they were located on remained unknown since over the last several days all he'd encountered aside from the occasional creature was his shadow. From that alone he knew the chance of finding them quick wasn't in his favor. We could be trapped in here for weeks with those monsters that're hunting us. Latvia will have trouble and Poland is, no, must take this seriously, he wouldn't disregard an actual monster, right? He...has to be doing fine. As long as they're not cornered, as long as they've avoided being caught, as long as they're in one piece, as long as... Those thoughts sank, wrenched from churning full-steam ahead as tension clamped an iron hand around his stomach, making Toris cross his mace-free arm over it.
They could make it, not that he'd have a way of knowing if they didn't.
Exhaling a pained groan, Toris focused his eyes instead toward what lay beyond the desktop that'd already shown what few secrets it'd contained. While no other desk appeared different from the first, the books, however, grabbed his attention in their proverbial hands drawing him steadily over toward the row. "War and Peace..." He skimmed over another two titles sharing the same genre before classical literature changed into biology, the book following that one was about something else too. They sure stocked a good variety of subjects here. It'd be a great help if they've got books about the manor, about the location here or whether monsters were a common problem in the area when the manor was built.
Further on, passing several books that weren't related with what he sought, he pulled out something about southern history. Skimming through pages that produced no new information, he closed the book and placed it where he'd taken it from. Then, as he opened the next one, something slid from the bottom fluttering on the way down before sliding from view underneath the desk that was right beside him.
"Hm?" The Lithuanian closed the book between his hands and stepped around the desk, glancing under toward where the falling thing had been headed. Toward the back he saw it. A scrap around the size of a bookmark lay pointing it's plain, pale surface toward the underside of the desk, he could see several letters grouped into what looked to be two words. Dropping onto his knees, he reached under the desk with fingers outstretched toward the bookmark when... Pain jabbing through his middle protested the position, informing him that his stomach hadn't loosened from the former knots. "Oh, ow!" He recoiled the grasping hand to wrap it instead around himself.
Despite not grabbing it, despite being overcast in shadows from the desk above, since his hand was no longer blocking his view Toris saw the words on the bookmark. 'Your turn,' it said. Stating along his spine a chill spread out through his body, it didn't matter that those words were written on something that might've never been found, the fact remained it from in the manor. Since there's something written on one side there may be more on the other. He doubted he wanted to know what else the bookmark had stored on it, his trembled with nervousness. Still, because he couldn't know whether it was important without looking, he reached under the desk more carefully and drug the bookmark back out into the open.
Now that he'd gotten it he stared at the two words not feeling too comfortable about turning it over. Breathing in, then out several times he waited in hopes his stomach would ease some from the knot, after several more breaths he flipped the bookmark over. 'Let them bleed.' He uncurled his fingers, face dominated with an unsettled expression, as the bookmark fell covering the short distance through the air to land beside his feet. His arms trembled but he brought one hand raising to near his mouth. The other hand continued hanging straight down tightening around the book and mace it held so much his knuckles turned whiter.
That color...with it being that color it could pass as the color of someone's skin.
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Astrit Zupan
Survivor
Pansexual.
Single.
13.
Played by Koso.
Offline.
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Post by Kosovo on Feb 22, 2013 23:48:59 GMT -6
The door opened easily for Astrit, though he didn't know why he was bothering to turn the knob.
How long had it been since he had last seen a living soul? Hours? Days? He didn't even know at this point, nor where he had been since he last checked. He had just been wandering, impelled by nothing and knowing nothing about what he was searching for except for some kind of escape from his tormented thoughts.
It didn't matter, really. He didn't care. When his body (his living body--why was he still living? Not that he thought it likelier that he could divine an answer this time than any of the last dozen times around this circular track of thought) brought him through the door, he didn't fight it. Why would he?
The room beyond that door was scrupulously clean, arrayed with desks and bookshelves. It looked like a study or similar, albeit one that had either gone unused since it was last cleaned or that belonged to someone extraordinarily neat. It might be a library, but Astrit was fairly sure this wasn't the same library he had visited before--it being on a different floor, for one thing--and the desks suggested that several people had meant to write in here.
Motion beneath one of the desks caught his eye, and he saw what appeared to be a human shape, the first in a long time, kneeling on the floor under one of the desks. Despite knowing better now than to trust such perceptions immediately, he thought that this person--whom he did not quite recognize even though the movements were vaguely familiar--seemed to even be alive. Curious, Astrit stepped forward, his hand automatically going to the pocket where he kept his knife just in case it proved to be yet another monster trying to lure him in. He hoped, as desperately as he could through the dull haze in his mind, that it wasn't a monster, though. The empty loneliness was getting to be far too much.
As he drew closer to the figure and came to see more clearly, Astrit surmised it was probably a woman based on the dress and the shoulder-length hair with flowers in it. There was something familiar about that hair, though he wasn't completely sure what it was...
One step to his right and he could finally see a face, which after a moment he placed as Lithuania. Surprising, insofar as the boy could be surprised. Lithuania was not usually one to wear dresses.
...Oh, right... this used to be a costume party. Astrit kept forgetting that detail, now that there was so much pain and fear between him and the time when they had thought that all they were doing would be having some fun with cheap scares and socializing in costumes. He had already seen Indonesia dressed as a panda, Prussia dressed as... it was hard to tell, but it might have once been something bright red before the costume got dragged through the mud, Romania dressed as a vampire, and his sister dressed as herself, among others. Lithuania dressed as a girl wasn't so strange.
What was strange, on the other hand, was the unsettled look on the other nation's face as he stared at something in his hand that was close in hue to his skin. Astrit looked closer; it was a little strip of leather, with some kind of ink markings on it, though the angle made it hard to see what was written or drawn.
"Hello, Toris," Astrit greeted the other hoarsely, with a voice that hadn't been used in a while. At least he could greet this one by name; since he had been here he had met many countries he had not been familiar with before. "What's that you have there?"
The boy stepped closer to see the words Let them bleed inscribed on the bookmark. His heart began to pound, remembering the blood he had shed.
"That looks like... human leather."
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Post by lithuania on Feb 23, 2013 14:41:19 GMT -6
The words seemed more foreboding, more threatening now that he'd recognized the color of the background they were on. If the bookmark had teeth Toris was sure it would've bitten him, made him bleed over the pale surface with the blood fulfilling what'd been written. There being no visible teeth didn't bring him comfort as he could easily imagine in this manor even bookmarks would find a way to draw blood. Did...I really just think that the manor could make a bookmark change into something else? Even after thinking about it, he was dismayed over it not seeming that far-fetched an idea. He winced and exhaled through his nose, the thought getting the better of him as he became more certain that teeth would appear on the bookmark the moment he looked away.
"Hello, Toris. What's that you have there?"
That voice, so sudden and unexpected from near him, the first voice in sometime that he'd heard besides his own made Toris tense, digging his teeth onto his lip. The startled yelp knotted itself in his throat.
"That looks like... human leather."
He jerked around, more concerned over who'd addressed him than the desk leg that'd been behind him, until the back of his shoulder collided against it from the sharp movement. Pain shot into his shoulder through the scars hidden on his back making the attached hand spasm open, the items it held dropped falling a short distance to hit the floor. "Aaahh! The hand opposite from the shoulder grasped onto that spot, which did nothing to stop the pain radiating through there. Yet, despite the useless he gesture his gaze cleared enough for him to focus on his company. The other looked familiar, and the apparent age difference was obvious, but the Lithuanian did make an effort to remember all the other Nations. Even those he'd never encountered specifically.
Most striking was that Kosovo's face was almost like Toris hadn't looked away from the bookmark at all. Was this living person real? Or an extension from the bookmark. What Kosovo wore seemed familiar too like he'd seen the other Nation in it before but Toris couldn't focus, couldn't recall where it was familiar from at the moment. It just made for a somewhat dangerous appearance. Not spooky or as unnerving, plus, if he was a living, breathing person...
His gaze flickered toward the bookmark with relief flickering through him, loosening his throat as he saw the bookmark remained neither having somehow disappeared or changed shape. "Sorry... You're Kosovo, right? Right?" Toris managed to say, again with some relief for the pain in his shoulder started to fade, though slowly, letting his throat finish uncurling from the bundle of nerves it'd became. The last part questioned with the note in his voice lifting in a hopeful note. Not alone? "I'd just noticed right before you spoke that it looked like it could be from a...human." His expression wavered with a shadow overhanging it, looking rather ill over the fact of what the bookmark could be. The sheer possibilities were...not doing his stomach any good for it roiled again over the knowledge he'd been faced with. He released the grip on his shoulder and reached it hesitantly for the book he'd dropped.
"So I'm not sure what it is anymore...but it fell out of this book I was going to look through." Toris lifted the book once more in his hand. As he directed the other's attention toward the book, he couldn't help re-examining it himself too now that he'd seen the bookmark that'd been in it. The cover was as innocent as could be, titled something normal about history and colorful in comparison with the human toned thing that'd fallen out from between the pages. There's nothing on there that would've indicated what was inside before I picked it out. He shuddered.
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Astrit Zupan
Survivor
Pansexual.
Single.
13.
Played by Koso.
Offline.
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Post by Kosovo on Mar 9, 2013 1:34:23 GMT -6
Astrit hadn't exactly been expecting Toris' reaction, even though it was really the obvious one. Of course the nervous Lithuanian would jump if he was surprised. Inwardly, Astrit winced as Toris crashed into the furniture and yelled in pain. Outwardly his expression didn't change, as the visions of blood and death were still hovering before him just vividly enough that his reactions to the present didn't show.
He felt bad for the injured Lithuania, really, but a nasty voice in the back of his head asked him why he still cared. Why should it matter to a murderer that he had just inflicted pain on another? Why should he care what others thought, when he knew he could just take their lives? Why did he think anything mattered?
Are you listening to yourself, Astrit? Do you realize what you're thinking?
Caught short right there, understanding of what had just passed through his mind fell onto the Kosovan boy. His greatest fear was threatening to come to pass: that he would lose what was redeemable about himself and become a monster. No! He wouldn't end that way. He couldn't. At that moment, Astrit Zupan, the Nation of Kosovo, resolved that he would help and comfort Lithuania if he could--he couldn't undo having killed Prussia, but he could do this smaller thing. Penance, maybe.
"Sorry..."
What was Toris apologizing for? He hadn't done anything wrong.
"You're Kosovo, right? Right?"
A pang of sympathy passed through Astrit at the sound of that choked, anxious, hopeful voice, and this time he forced himself to feel it keenly. "Right," he confirmed. "I'm Kosovo. Astrit, to my friends." They weren't particularly close neighbors, so it wasn't so strange that Toris wouldn't remember his human name, but it was nice to be recognized even imperfectly.
Then the Lithuanian gestured to the bookmark, his countenance disturbed. "I'd just noticed right before you spoke that it looked like it could be from a...human." Astrit nodded, sharing the other's discomfort at the thought--it might even have been Prussia, it's almost the right color--but he forced himself not to think too hard about that part. Listen to Lithuania instead. The one who's here right now. And Lithuania continued, "So I'm not sure what it is anymore...but it fell out of this book I was going to look through."
Toris lifted the book and Astrit regarded it dubiously. It didn't look particularly remarkable, aside from being a bit more colorful than he thought books had tended to be at the time when the manor had been overwhelmed by evil. It certainly didn't seem to be the sort of book that he would expect to contain a strip of human skin (or a convincing lookalike) inscribed with menacing phrases. "Careful with that," he cautioned, aware that this was probably unnecessary. "It had one scary surprise in it... maybe we should make sure it doesn't have another."
Not that he had much of an idea about how to go about that, except to take the risk of looking through it.
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Post by lithuania on Mar 26, 2013 16:55:00 GMT -6
After however many ages it'd been since seeing another person, he longed for verbal confirmation from someone else that he wasn't hallucinating. Kosovo's presence just when Toris discovered that bookmark was almost too reassuring and under less stressful circumstances it would've raised the question why he'd not imagine Poland, Mr. America or Belarus instead. What shape the hallucination took depended on what someone wanted to see, didn't it? Not that he found himself capable of thought beyond the, please let that I'm not alone be real, bouncing around inside his head until the moment Kosovo answered him.
"I'm Kosovo. Astrit, to my friends."
His relieved breath, accepting that someone'd entered the room before he could've felt the most alone, rushed outward through his nose. Was that him saying I should call him Astrit? I can't tell what he meant. He's the first Nation I've seen over the last several days and the first I've seen since reaching this floor, so it wouldn't be smart offending him. Still, we're nearer what'd be considered friends, the creatures that're living within the Manor make that rather necessary. Could that have been what he meant? I don't know that much about him. "I'll...remember that." Before Toris would've needed an assumption about what Astrit meant, that neutral response flowed from his mouth pressing him onward beyond the initial hesitation that'd afflicted him. The weight of the book he picked off the ground soon settled into his hand despite him clenching the fingers around the cover so tight it couldn't accidentally fall open.
No matter how innocent the cover looked he couldn't trust that there wasn't something else waiting to fall out, though it seemed the two Nations shared almost the same thought. "Careful with that, it had one scary surprise in it... maybe we should make sure it doesn't have another."
Making sure it didn't have another surprise translated into opening the book no matter what direction the Lithuanian tried considering the remark from. The hand shook underneath the book as his gaze turned hesitantly toward it, debating whether searching for mentions of Baudeau Manor was worth whatever else might've lurked within. Were he not around I'd be tossing the book where no one'd find it for that very reason. Except it could contain something useful about the Manor, like the floor plans or notes about what monsters reside here. Unless we look, we won't know. He didn't mention wanting the book so I guess that means I don't have choice, I did tell him I was planning on looking through it until the bookmark fell out. I can see how that makes opening the book my job. His expression paled somewhat over each reason why he should be the one opening the book then included one more about Kosovo still being rather young.
"The book is about Southern American history, I figure it's reasonable thinking there might've been something written about the Manor in it. That was why I took it from that shelf. If nothing else it can seem a more pleasant reason for checking what's on the pages, right?" Opening the front cover, he ended with that careful question and turned through what appeared normal enough pages until reaching the table of contents. Nothing across that page seemed unusual either but the worn appearance of those corners made it clear the book had seen some former use, although how many years it'd been since then remained indeterminable. He looked toward the corner then moved his fingers down over the list of subjects covered within the book, searching for anything that might've included the Manor.
When the Lithuanian brought his fingers across the last historic topic covered within the book, he glanced toward his companion, being uncertain if Kosovo'd share his opinion. Toris opened his mouth but hesitated another moment, considering each topic once more before he dared comment about them. "These don't seem like subjects that're referring to the Manor, not from what I'm seeing but I could be wrong. What do you think?"
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Astrit Zupan
Survivor
Pansexual.
Single.
13.
Played by Koso.
Offline.
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Post by Kosovo on Mar 26, 2013 21:03:38 GMT -6
Astrit's fingers tensed, and he remembered what he was holding. It was really quite odd to think that he'd managed to forget that he was holding a sword (which had belonged to--no! don't think about that, don't think it) which was much too big for him behind his back. He wondered how long he'd been lugging it about. Perhaps it had been long enough that he was getting stronger from it. Now he hefted it to point it at the book, hoping that if anything particularly dangerous came out of it he might be able to help get rid of it.
"The book is about Southern American history, I figure it's reasonable thinking there might've been something written about the Manor in it," Toris explained, his voice sounding a little nervous. Probably about as nervous as he really should be. "That was why I took it from that shelf. If nothing else it can seem a more pleasant reason for checking what's on the pages, right?"
Astrit nodded, mostly understanding the point though not quite sure what they needed a more pleasant reason for. He was rather guarded, not against his fellow nation now, but against anything that might attack them. The cover and title pages passed peacefully, revealing that the book was worn by some substantial previous use but elucidating little else. He peered over the other nation's shoulder, reading and scrutinizing the table of contents along with him.
A pause, after Kosovo had finished looking over the words, and then Lithuania suggested, "These don't seem like subjects that're referring to the Manor, not from what I'm seeing but I could be wrong. What do you think?"
Slowly, scanning for anything that might prove him wrong even as he spoke, the boy replied, "I think... this book has been here... since before this place was cursed... or, if it was always cursed... then it was moved from somewhere else." It was mostly just intuition that led him to say that, though he did have a solid basis for it too, and a reason to consider the notion important. "It's well-used, and the monsters don't really have any practical use for a book of history and customs. I doubt many of them are human enough to be able to read it even if they did care. It's been disturbed since, at least long enough to put that awful thing in it--" he gestured here to the bookmark, which still lay upon the ground where Toris had dropped it "--but my guess is that if there's anything useful in it, it's been put in after the text itself was written."
Even having said that, there was one thing that caught his eye in the table of contents. "This region we're in... it's called, uh, Louisiana, right?" He was sure that he had mispronounced it, but hopefully he hadn't mangled the word too much to keep himself from being understood.
A small, left-hand finger dove in like a falcon going for the kill, abruptly coming to a stop just short of the page. Astrit's right hand was occupied with the sword, and he hated the thought of showing off the traces of blood that still stained it even by tangent.
"That's how you spell it, right?"
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Post by lithuania on Mar 28, 2013 6:12:43 GMT -6
Each passing second as Astrit read over the book contents seemed longer than Toris, given his preference for not offending the first contact he'd encountered in days, expected. Kosovo didn't scare him, neither did that make him familiar enough with the younger Nation to know what he should think, or what he should've said. I'd rather not be alone. Sure I'm worried more about certain Nations but the chances they're alive become better with every Nation I encounter, unless they've somehow managed being the only ones...killed. That final part crossed his mind without him recognizing what direction it'd taken, he noticed too late and couldn't prevent the thought from ending rather casually.
No matter how improbable the thought seemed, it rooted itself throughout his consciousness where he couldn't discard it that easily until Astrit's answer proved a welcome diversion. "I think... this book has been here... since before this place was cursed... or, if it was always cursed... then it was moved from somewhere else. It's well-used, and the monsters don't really have any practical use for a book of history and customs. I doubt many of them are human enough to be able to read it even if they did care. It's been disturbed since, at least long enough to put that awful thing in it--" Somewhat out of instinct Toris followed the gesture Astrit made with another wince toward the words that remained unchanged across the bookmark. There wasn't time for more before Kosovo continued speaking. "--but my guess is that if there's anything useful in it, it's been put in after the text itself was written."
Logic about monsters couldn't be workable, not after everything the monsters must've done around there but some of what Astrit said made sense. One problem something, possibly the monsters, were keeping the Manor far tidier than mindless creatures would've cared about if they just wanted food when hunting them. We can't tell the monsters what they should do, nor can we tell what they're doing when they're not hunting us either. "This region we're in... it's called, uh, Louisiana, right?"
The Lithuanian recognized the state name well enough, even though he wasn't quite sure himself about the exact pronunciation used either. He nodded as Kosovo's finger dove rather accurately toward the subjects, zeroing onto what seemed like it must've been the Louisiana section. "That's how you spell it, right?"
"Yes, I suppose it must be. There's no other state there that's even remotely spelled like Louisiana would be, it doesn't have more than a handful of pages covering it's history." Not one state within the book possessed a long section, which was understandable when he considered the age of said book. It must've been sometime since the book was printed, Toris touched the worn corners doubting from the amount there that it'd came out during the 20th century. Not unless it'd been earlier during that century. Pausing, he waited, letting Astrit remove the finger that'd been pointing toward the Table of Contents, then he went about paging through toward the section dealing with Louisiana history.
Before ever reaching that section red speckles appeared across those pages, being rather obvious against the white background present there. Toris paused, his hand hovering above the next page as he recognized the red for what it was. In a hurry he turned the page but found more speckles from what he didn't know, though someone had definitely been bleeding onto there. He glanced toward Astrit considering that maybe he shouldn't keep the book turned toward him too, snapping the book closed instead. "There was another unwelcome surprise."
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Astrit Zupan
Survivor
Pansexual.
Single.
13.
Played by Koso.
Offline.
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Post by Kosovo on Mar 30, 2013 23:26:54 GMT -6
Astrit watched over Toris' shoulder as the Lithuanian paged through the book, headed for the section regarding Louisiana. He saw no information inside that looked particularly helpful so far, but he kept his eyes trained on the thing regardless. It was better than letting his mind wander in the direction it was trying to go.
Before anything useful-looking popped up, Lithuania turned a page to reveal that the next one was splattered with tiny dots of blood. Fresh-looking blood, at that. Astrit was distracted from the words' contents once and for all. The next page was no better; if anything, it was worse. Toris snapped the book shut, and Astrit could hardly blame him.
"There was another unwelcome surprise."
The boy could barely nod; his mind was overwhelmed with bitter knowledge. There was blood on the pages. Someone must have been injured or killed while reading this book. Abruptly, at that thought, he whipped his head around to check if anything had entered the room to hunt them while they read, but he saw no such thing. The room was still as empty of monsters as when he had come in, and the door was shut against the possibility of more arriving without giving at least a little bit of warning. The bitter thing in his mind kept going, showing him sprays of blood, mingling visions of himself committing murder with a long parade of other faces, placed into images of various kinds of violence happening in here. Friends, family, neighbors, chance acquaintances--any one of them could have been the source of the implausibly red droplets that had marked the page, any one of them could have been wounded or killed in dozens of ways by nightmarish, inhuman things.
No, he thought, forcing himself to push the visions aside. It was probably not someone you know. Don't do this to yourself. Remember--you're not here alone.[/color]
"Ah--probably just someone got a nosebleed," he suggested unconvincedly. It was so obviously not the probable case he couldn't imagine his companion believing it any more than he did, but it was a comforting thing to imagine. "Or a--papercut. Something like that." Even though he knew it was probably the marks of someone's death, he wanted to think that the book merely bore witness to some mundane little injury that had healed itself only a matter of moments later. It would be harmless that way.
What were they looking for, anyway? What kind of information might they be able to get out of such a book? Astrit frowned and looked up at the shelves. "Let's... put this book aside," he proposed. "There's a lot of books in here. What do you think the chances are that one of them has anything useful?"
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