(no subject)

[kivaember]

 Who: Prussia and anyone else! finally crawling out of my shy shell
When: February 15th late evening
Where: The street around Canada's home 
Style: Prose or action 
Status: Open!


Gilbert had thoroughly explored the area around his current headquarters but was leery in going beyond Canada's street. He had observed the other inhabitants of Vatheon and concluded that most of them were complete freaks. Some of them didn't look human - which didn't really disturb Gilbert that much, in fact, he found it pretty cool - but it solidified his suspicions that Vatheon existed somewhere completely separate from Gilbert and Canada's world, hell, separate from their entire dimension! It would make going home more than difficult, but Gilbert wasn't to be deterred! No prison could hold his awesomeness!

But...there was no need to be hasty just yet. Vatheon wasn't a dreary prison with high grey walls and barbed wire. They were treated very well, even if the locals disturbed Gilbert on a subconscious level. Just made his skin crawl, so he avoided them as much as possible. Really, the only person that Gilbert interacted with regularly was Canada, who he was rooming with. Gilbert was getting antsy, since he was a social person despite his Alone Complex. He thrived off of attention, and to willingly isolate himself from people - no matter how freaky they may be - was slowly killing him from the inside out. That and Gilbert was curious and some of these freaky people looked so awesome!

So Gilbert lingered on the street outside of Canada's house, pacing up and down and looking at the other houses, considering his plan of action. Should he go to the park? Or maybe go to the shops and meet people there. People socialised in stores, right? Yeah, and in parks. Gilbert couldn't exactly just ambush people on the street and demand that they'd talk to him? Well, he could, but maybe people would be intimidated by him flaunting his awesomeness so abruptly in their faces and would run away. Lots of people ran away when he jumped out at them. 

...although that was probably more due to him surprising them by leaping out of bushes... 

Gilbert frowned and sat down on the curb with a huff. He rested his elbows on his knees and peered down the street. It was late anyway, so people would probably be in bed by now, and the shops would be closed, and who knew what the park was like during the night. You weren't allowed in parks at night in some places, anyway. But Gilbert didn't want to go back inside just yet. He picked up a loose stone from the floor and scratched it on the pavement, leaving chalk lines. Distracted from his dilemma, Gilbert quickly became absorbed in sketching on the pavement with the stone, even if the light from the lampposts was too orange for his liking. Made it hard to see in some parts. Oh well. 

It wasn't like anyone was going to see his crappy drawings anyway. 

Comments

[a_violent_end]

After his visit to Zelda, Shizuo walked back to his place, for what would probably be the last time. Seeing Zelda always made him feel better about everything, and though this evening was no exception, he still felt somewhat burdened. She was in danger, and had no idea just how directly her safety was now tied to his ability to control himself. Every time he thought back on Vegeta's flaunting of his power, Shizuo could feel his stomach turn.

But this was his burden to shoulder - not Zelda's, and not anyone else's. At least he'd be closer to her now, just in case anything happened. Just in case he failed.

Though the situation bothered him, and though Shizuo still did not have strong faith in his ability to control himself, he did not find himself hating Vegeta. On the contrary, Vegeta had - though in a very dangerous and unsettling way - given him some purpose, a strong push in the right direction. Shizuo knew this was true, because their last fight had proven that there was hope for him. If Vegeta did happen to hurt her, though, that would very quickly change.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost stumbled over the guy who was - rather stupidly - scratching on the sidewalk. Shizuo stopped himself just in time, squinting down to see what the guy was doing.

"Are you trying to draw with a rock?" he asked.

[kivaember]

Gilbert was so absorbed in his drawings - a great epic of his Teutonic Knight days, where he was an ankle biter whose sword was taller than himself - that he didn't hear the footsteps until he was very nearly kicked in the side. During his drawing, Gilbert had sprawled out on his stomach, his feet kicking in the air as he sketched sketched sketched.

He let out a squawk at the near collision, and jumped to his feet - or tried to. He did a sort of stumble by tripping over his own feet, falling on his knees, as his drawing rock flew out of his hand and skittered into a nearby bush. Gilbert felt his cheeks warm out of embarrassment from his not so elegant leap to attention, and pushed himself to his feet while brushing down his slightly oversized, navy blue hoodie, glaring at the man who startled him so much.

"Hey! Don't sc- ambush someone like that!" Gilbert snapped, squaring his shoulders slightly as he pushed himself up onto his tiptoes. The stranger was over six foot though, and although Gilbert wasn't a midget, he wasn't the tallest of people, and was below the average male height for a German. Gilbert felt disgruntled at having to crane his head back so far to meet the stranger's face.

Lanky, blond, tall and serious, was what Gilbert gleaned in a quick once over. Sans the lanky, the quick description reminded Gilbert sorely of his brother and he briefly felt homesick. He waved the useless feeling aside.

"And it isn't any of your business. I was just drawing some...stuff," he discreetly tried to scrape away the picture of Teutonic Knight him kicking Hungary's ass from the pavement (which sadly never happened but he was allowed to fantasise it). "Stupid stuff."

[a_violent_end]

Well. This guy had an attitude. He was the one sprawled out on the sidewalk, and yet he was chiding Shizuo as though it was his fault he had nearly been stepped on. Shizuo glared down at him, a small, threatening smile creeping onto his face.

That was the thing about being in Vatheon and not Ikebukuro. In Ikebukuro, only foreigners and morons would get in Shizuo's space like this, and those weren't common occurrances. Now that he was in Vatheon, though, he didn't have as much of a reputation. Sure, some people knew he had torn up a few buildings here and there, but with all the demons and strange species running around, he actually did not stand out very much. Which was good, except for when punks like this guy thought they could act tough despite the fact that they were doing weird things and getting in the way.

"The sidewalk isn't paper, and you're in the way," Shizuo said, grin widening. He didn't even look at the drawing. He didn't care. Annoyance was quickly evolving into irritation, which would only lead to anger, and then Shizuo was going to throw this guy halfway across -

No.

He wasn't.

Zelda. He had to think about Zelda and reign his temper in. If he lost it over something - someone - so unimportant, then he'd never be able to hold it together when he needed to. His grin fell.

"Just get out of my way," he said, teeth clenched and forcing his speech into something calm rather than threatening. He reached in a pocket for his cigarettes.

[kivaember]

Gilbert felt old instincts blare when the stranger started to grin wildly at him, and the albino felt his own annoyance quickly start to fade as anticipation flooded him. A fight? Gilbert almost giggled with glee. Although he had been, ah, de-militarised (and non-existent, technically), good fights were hard to come by. His cute little brother was so strict and stiff about fighting, since he was still trying to shake a certain reputation, and everyone else was trying to fight with debates and talks, rather than swords and bullets like Gilbert was used to.

It boggled his mind, really. He was no stranger to verbal battles, since many of his bosses had been quick and sharp of tongue, but he was born into a crusading movement and grew up when Europe developed into what it was today, and was used to physical fighting and bloodshed being the way to settle disputes. In short, Gilbert had been itching to fight for what felt like forever, and there was no Ludwig around to berate him for causing trouble.

Gilbert found himself grinning back, his muscles tensing as he flattened his feet against the floor, subtly shifting them to spread apart a little. He felt some annoyance when the stranger suddenly had a change in heart, and just laughed - his obnoxious, loud laugh - and jabbed the blond stranger squarely in the chest with his finger.

"The whole world is my canvas, thank you very much. And there is a thing called 'walking around me'. I'm sure you've heard of it..." Gilbert smirked. "Unless your brain is like a protozoan's and you're unable to comprehend going in any other direction except forward."

[a_violent_end]

Shizuo was in the process of sticking a cigarette in his mouth, though he didn't light it. Not when a finger was jabbing him in the chest, personal space very much interrupted, and that ridiculous laugh clearly mocking him.

Self-control. Shizuo tried to remind himself.

Then the guy talked. And, well, it was enough of a trigger to break his focus on keeping himself reeled in. He broke the unlit cigarette in two, stepped on it, and then grabbed the guy by the shirt. Glaring and pulling him close, Shizuo bore down on him.

"Who have you been talking to?"

He and Izaya were on...better terms, but that didn't change the fact that many Vatheon residents had already heard of him from the flea informant. And that term - protozoan - only came out of Izaya's mouth.

"Tell me or I will crush you." Really, the guy was lucky Shizuo hadn't already sent him flying across Vatheon.

[kivaember]

"Ack-" Gilbert made a minor noise of surprise at the hand suddenly grasping at his shirt, but overall looked a bit unruffled by it all. The guy was a bit faster than Gilbert thought. That was okay though - even if the guy could, like, shoot laser beams out of his eyes and fly, Gilbert was pretty much invincible in terms of physical sturdiness. It'd probably hurt to get laser burns though. Right? Gilbert wasn't sure, he never got shot at with a laser before.

Why was he thinking about lasers?

"I'd like to see you try to crush me," Gilbert scoffed, trying to subtly ease his way out of the man's grip. No dice. His fingers were like iron. Gilbert frowned as he stilled. He liked this shirt of his, and he only just bought it, so he didn't want to rip and tear it by pulling free, or wriggle out of it. He lost enough clothes to Hungary and Russia to be extremely protective of them.

"But you're certainly short-tempered, huh?" Gilbert drawled, leaning back so he was resting lightly on the back of his heels, only held up by the hand on his shirt, tipping his head back and looking at the lamppost above with a deathly bored expression. "You definitely remind me of Lutz when he got grumpy. Well, he was always grumpy, but he was at least cute when he was a kid."

[a_violent_end]

That wasn't an answer to his question, and Shizuo had no idea who "Lutz." was. That fed his irritation. People who prattle off about stupid things that make no sense made Shizuo want to break something. Preferably the person's face.

"Shut up," he growled, shaking the guy within his grip. And since the guy thought he'd stare at the lamppost instead of paying attention to his question, Shizuo dragged him over to it and then used his free hand to tear it out of the ground.

He let go of the shirt, finally, and brandished the lamppost.

"I can crush you," Shizuo promised.

It should have occurred to him that he hadn't crushed the guy yet and therefore he was exercising a measure of control, but Shizuo was too absorbed in the interaction. Analyzing situations had never been his strong point.

[codenameninja]

*Japan hurried down the streets with a bag of grocery in his hands. It was a bad habit to eat late in the evening, but both his Shinx and he could use a little snack. The Pokemon followed the island nation, in good cheer.

Come to think of it, didn't Canada-san live around here? Japan absent-mindedly wondered as he glanced around.

If it wasn't so late, he would've said hello. Oh well, maybe some other day ...*

[kivaember]

[Gilbert looked up when he heard footsteps, hurriedly scratching the stone over the crude drawings he had made before rubbing his palm over them to try and rub away the white lines. He held the expression of a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar, although that quickly turned into pleasant surprise when he caught sight of /Japan/.]

Hey! [He leapt to his feet, waving his arms about as if Japan was standing over a hundred metres away, rather than rapidly approaching him.] Hey, Japaaaaan~

[codenameninja]

*Japan jumps as suddenly there is a flailing man on the same street.

>Battle
>Run
>Pokemon
>Bag

Japan is about to give Shinx the order to shock the possible attacker, when he realizes that an attacker wouldn't know his name so readily. He approaches slowly and upon closer examination, he recognizes the man. That white hair, booming voice. It can only be!!*

P-Prussia-san?

[kivaember]

[Gilbert drops his arms once he's sure he caught Japan's attention, and flashes him a wide grin as he strides towards him. It was great to see another familiar face, especially a /friendly/ familiar face. Japan, Canada...Gilbert was lucky in that Russia hadn't been kidnapped along him. Oh shudder, to be caught on a dark street alone with him...]

Hey! Canada mentioned you got nabbed too!

[codenameninja]

*Once the shock of seeing the taller man disappears, Japan gives him a small smile in return. It has been a while since he saw Prussia-san, even if he does visit his blog sometimes.*

For some time now, yes.

It's unfortunate that you're here too, but I'm glad to see a familiar face.

[kivaember]

Same. Been bored without anyone to hang out with - Canada's cool, I mean, but I need more than one person to entertain me. [Gilbert laughs boisterously, although he hurriedly stops when the laughter echoes strangely down the dark, empty street.]

Er- so, what're you up to?

[codenameninja]

Ah, I see... *He understands really. Japan had his share of days when he was stayed inside, afraid of the outside world. I mean.*

I was a little hungry so I went to buy some snacks. *He holds up the bag.* Oh and this a friend that I met here. Say hello Masahiro.

*Shinx observes Prussia from safe distance, blinking curiously at him.*

[ninthserenade]

After spending nearly the entire day and better half of the evening up on the surface, Demyx set out on the city for one last walk before he turned in for the night. It's not like he was in any rush to go back to his house at the current moment, anyways. He was worried. Worried about if Axel would tell Lea about his plans, worried that Faris wouldn't come back--it wouldn't really surprise him if he sprouted a grey hair or two after everything settled down.

He actually didn't notice the local--no, foreigner (he could recognize most of the locals who lived around this neighbourhood by now) scribbling on the ground with something. A rock? Chalk, maybe? Either way, it piqued the Nobody's interest, so taking care as to not startle the stranger by running up, he approached slowly and peered over his shoulder when he got close enough.

"...What'cha drawin'?"

[kivaember]

Gilbert was too focused on his drawing to notice Demyx's approach - his drawing which was a massive epic of crudely drawn comics of him during his Teutonic Knight days, where his longsword had been taller than his body, and he had been more of an ankle-biter representative than any efficient help on the battlefield. Of course, his memories of so far back were fuzzy and unreliable, so maybe he was embellishing history a little since comic-him was running about with a large sword with very little difficulty, and beating Hungary even though she had kicked his ass more times than he could count.

Poor memory. Yes.

He jumped when a shadow blocked the orange tinted light from the lamppost above, and threw himself over his drawing with wild, flailing limbs. "Ah!" he squawked, looking over his shoulder to see a curious looking blond blinking down at him. He stared at him wide-eyed before adopting a casual expression, sprawling out on the pavement as if he was sunning at the beach. "Drawing? I'm not drawing? I'm- er, playing with this...rock," he said, holding up the stone he had been drawing with.

[ninthserenade]

"You sure looked like you were drawing," he starts with a light grin, crouching down to try and get a closer look at what wasn't completely covered by Gilbert with mild amusement. "C'monnnnn, inquiring artists wanna see!"

Lousy days or not, just seeing the reactions on the new guy was enough to bring back a bit of the old Demyx to the surface.

"Please?"

[kivaember]

There was a comical moment where Gilbert tried to cover every single drawing with his body, but was too scrawny to do so - that and he lacked the amount of limbs to achieve such a feat. "N-No! They're, er, just something I doodled! Doodles don't count as drawings!" he barked, looking very much like a worm as he wriggled from side to side, covering whatever drawings Demyx's gaze wandered over, yet leaving others exposed while doing so - and hastily trying to cover them again; wash and repeat.

Quickly enough, Gilbert saw the futility of his actions and slumped on the pavement, throwing his stone morosely into the nearby bushes. "Urrrgh, damn...these aren't an accurate depiction of my artistic ability, just so you know. Just...doodles."

[used2btoonpi]

"Didn't think you were a sidewalk artist."

Eddie stood at the edge of one of the rings of light from the lampposts. He'd run out of some rather important supplies and had just managed to make it to a store before it closed. Of course, that meant walking back home in the dark.

Which had turned into wandering around the city at night with a rather relaxed air.

"I should have you arrested for vandalizin' property." He walked closer to take a look, "Or maybe just for abusin' your artistic license."

Guess who is in a better mood tonight.

[kivaember]

Gilbert looked up with a sunny grin when he heard the familiar voice - it was his grumpy ass away from home, to fill the Ludwig shaped void in his heart - although that smile quickly dropped the more /Valerie/ spoke. "Hey!" he huffed, tossing the stone down and climbing to his feet, standing on top of the crude drawings to sort of...hide them from view. Okay he admitted they were crappy, but no one else could call them that! He was good at story structure! His library full of handwritten books were a testament to that!

"Did you see the sign asking for criticism? Nope. Besides, I can probably draw better than you and your...sausage fingers," Gilbert muttered, trying to discreetly rub the pictures away with the sole of his shoe, and winced when his shoe made a loud scraping noise instead.

[used2btoonpi]

Eddie just gave a soft smirk. "That's the thing about being a critic. You don't have to wait for permission." He shifted the grocery bag a bit and raised an eyebrow. Wow, someone was testy. Not that much of a surprise but still it was interesting to see the shift of emotions over the other guys face. Really amusing actually.

"Calm down kid, it was a joke. And besides, I couldn't draw my way outta wet paper bag." Tried it once...needless to say it was an extra day of chasing down that toon robber.

[kivaember]

Gilbert paused when Valerie admitted his inability to draw, having not expected that easy admission, and stood there awkwardly for a moment. He then scoffed and turned his nose up high, crossing his arms and picking at a piece of fluff on the elbow of his sleeve.

"Well!" he said, for lack of anything else. "...what're you doing here? Checking up on me?" he suddenly smirked slyly, peering at Valerie from the corner of his eye. "Aw, how sweet of you."

[used2btoonpi]

"Not on purpose. I was just passin' by." He wasn't social by any means but it was still weird to see a guy drawing on the sidewalk in the middle of the night. He's draw to strange things.

"Saw you scrubbing on the floor and figured I should make sure you aren't doing something stupid."

[kivaember]

"Mmhmm," Gilbert just grinned, liking the thought of someone checking up on him - even though he knew that if Valeria actually was checking up on him, he would've thrown a tantrum over how he wasn't a /child/ thank you very much. "Nice of you to think that anything I'm doing it automatically stupid. I'm hurt!"

[used2btoonpi]

The grin made Eddie raise an eyebrow but he just shook his head. There were a lot of idiots in this town and after what he'd seen lately...he was going to keep on an eye on the few that had been helpful. He didn't want to call anyone a friend yet. He didn't have friends anymore...not rabbits or dames or blondes with too much time on their hands.

"Don't flatter yourself kid, I think anything anyone does is bordering on stupid. Now why are you out here on your own?"