[ March 28th ] Have You Seen This Country?

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Kerchunk kerchunk kerchunk!

Belarus put the final staple into the poster she had hung all around campus. If this didn't draw out her beloved Russia from wherever he was hiding OR BEING KEPT, then she did not know what to do.

"Oh brother..." she said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

[Adriaan van Dijk]

Adriaan was taking another man-stroll around the school grounds, where he could smoke in peace without silly things like laws getting in the way. This was truly a terrible country, he thought.

Suddenly, his young-and-vulnerable-women senses began to tingle. He followed them to a crying girl stapling up posters of a man whose manliness left Adriaan feeling oddly envious.

"How do you lose a guy like that?"

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Belarus whipped around when she suddenly heard someone behind her. She was faced with someone much taller than her questioning the poster she had just hung up, obviously admiring Russia in every way.

His question stung and made the fact that Russia was lost more real. How does one lose a man like Russia? Belarus had to avert her eyes. "He's painfully shy," she answered, stealing a glance at the poster and running her fingers down Russia's muscular and bare legs. "And probably the target of many succubus' grasps."

Her voice grew bitter when she spoke that last part. She hated to think of Russia in the hands of a succubus. It broke her heart.

[Adriaan van Dijk]

"He can't be too shy, if he wears shorts like that..." Adriaan observed, noting the outfit on the poster. The bare legs made him shudder and simultaneously want to run to the gym ASAP. He could never pull those things off.

The thought made him sad for a bit, but then he remembered the subject at hand.

"When's the last time you saw him?"

[Ivan Braginski]

Taking this moment to look back, part of Russia supposed that, perhaps, he should have seen this coming. He couldn’t sneak around forever -- especially not when it came to Belarus -- but this was still the last thing that he had expected to see upon emerging from hiding and venturing out onto the school grounds.

He very absently noted that the Photoshopping was remarkably well done. Immediately after, he thought sharply, wildly, please let it be Photoshop.

Snapping into action, he reached up and ripped the poster off the wall, crumpling it furiously in his hands as he stalked away -- he didn’t even know yet where he was going -- and oh, his face was burning. He shrank as deep into his scarf as he could to hide the angry flush that had spread across his cheeks, dark and sudden; and then -- he realized, stricken -- even his ears were getting warm. Who knew how many of these had been plastered up? From here alone, he could see several more.

Painfully aware of every glance he received from other students, he rounded a corner hastily, and there, a short distance away, was Belarus herself, talking to…well, someone. The irony. Russia’s steps stuttered and, after a second of dumb indecision, he yanked himself back around the corner, wringing the poster anxiously between his fists and looking hopelessly, hopelessly put out.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

"He is as shy as he is handsome," Belarus replied, reaching for the chainsaw she had concealed under her skirt. This person was acting very suspicious and Belarus suspected that, perhaps, he was hiding her darling and beautiful Russia. "The last time I saw him was--"

She began but she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Off in the distance, she saw a godly shine and then...it was him. Her eyes filled with tears because she felt so overcome with happiness. Russia was not only alive, he was there! "Brother..."

"Brother, I'm coming!" she called out lovingly. Wait a minute, there was a person in her way! Not an issue. Belarus held her hands up as if they were claws and hissed at the Netherlands. "You're in my way!"

[Adriaan van Dijk]

Adriaan was just starting to think how sweet this girl was, until she went all MANIC RABID DEMON and threatened him with her claws of death nails.

So, naturally, he leapt out of the way. "Jesus Christ. Go for it."

[Ivan Braginski]

Spotted! Rooted to the spot, Russia pressed himself flat against the unyielding bricks. As though that would save him. Frantically, he wished for a secret compartment to open at his back and simply swallow him up, or for someone to open a window above him and drop a rope, anything. A number of fantastically unlikely scenarios flashed through his mind, but he knew, he knew that there was nothing more to be done, and that he was doomed. Utterly.

Gulping down as much dread as he could, he forced himself to take a heavy, reluctant step out into the open, like a condemned man being led to the gallows. All the better to see Belarus coming, he told himself, than to flee and leave his back unguarded. He hardly noticed that he had taken to shredding the poster in his hands.

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Even though the Netherlands got out of her way, Belarus changed the direction of her mad charging so that she could specifically crash into him and bump him on her way over to her one true love, Edward Cullen Ivan Braginski!

She sprinted over to where she knew he was hiding and peeked around the corner. "Brotherrrr~" she sang sweetly, "Come out come out wherever you arrree~ I see you~" She smiled creepily and a shadow loomed over her face. He was so cute when he was shy.

[Adriaan van Dijk]

"Whaaaa-?! Shit!" Adriaan was not fucking pleased with being knocked over by a little thing half his size.

His clothes were dirty, his hair was messed up, and he was furious.

He stood up and stomped over to where Russia was awaiting his doom, while trying to fix his hair with the comb he always kept in his pocket. "What the hell is going on? Control this girl! She shouldn't be allowed to just knock everyone the fuck over-"

[Ivan Braginski]

He had thought that he was as prepared for this as he could be, but Russia still found himself flinching, no, reeling backwards as Belarus came near, drawing uncomfortably, disturbingly, dangerously close to his space, and then that smile--he should have run when he had the chance. He might even have tried it if the Netherlands hadn’t stormed up at that very moment, aggressive and gloriously angry. To Russia, his presence was possibly a strange godsend, though he couldn’t say he liked it much when people yelled. After all, what was he expected to do? The beginnings of a frown appeared on his face as he raised his chin from the protective cover of his scarf.

This person obviously did not know Belarus at all.

“Please forgive her. She was looking for me,” he stated -- suppressing the watery tremble in his voice -- as though it was an adequate explanation (which, to him, it was). It would be difficult for anyone who didn’t know him to tell whether he was fooling with them or not. He wasn’t though, and he hesitated a moment longer, shying away from Belarus who was too close as subtly as he could before asking, very uncertainly and with an apologetic cringe, “Are you alright?”

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Ignoring the Netherlands completely, she wrapped her arms around Russia's strong and powerful neck, feeling the muscles on his back, smelling the testosterone--it was a sensory overload for her. Clinging to him, she could tell that his attention was not entirely on her and she was quite offended by this. She turned ever-so-slightly toward the offender and let out a small angry grunt in his general direction before looking back at her beloved.

"I'm much better now that I'm with you, Brother," she told him, one of her hand gliding along the side of his cheek. She let out a small and uncharacteristic giggle. "Are you all right now too?"

[Adriaan van Dijk]

Adriaan flinched visibly when the demon-child girl growled at him.
Viciously.
She may be small and cute, but she had murder in her eyes. No doubt about that. And Adriaan, for all his manly masculinity, was terrified.

To make this worse, this Russian Epitome of Chiseled and Enviable Manhood was trembling into his scarf. Natural, since he was being felt up by the daughter of Satan. In an attempt to be helpful and conceal his fear Adriaan began tearing down the offending posters.

[Ivan Braginski]

Oh. Oh. Russia recoiled even further, arching away from the grasping, clutching fingers, but the effort only drew Belarus up tighter against him, so close that she might have even felt his heart tripping a frightened double-time in his chest. Arms around his neck, a hand on his face; in a way it was worse when she was gentle like this. He didn’t even try to hide the whimper that bubbled up from his lungs. “N-Natalia,” he managed, “Please just—back a bit, yes? I can’t breathe.”

He startled slightly at the sound of ripping paper, and looked to see the Netherlands off a ways already tearing down the horrid posters. In spite of his discomfort, he felt a spark of gratitude. Remembered what he was here for. Gathered just enough self control to bring up an arm between Belarus and himself to show her the remains of the flier clenched in his fist. “These,” he started, allowing himself to look a little hopeful, “We can take these down now?”

[Natalia Arlovskaya]

Belarus saw the Netherlands tear down the posters and instantly she knew he was going to take them home with him and hang them on his wall. Unacceptable! She rushed over to him, whipping out a handheld flamethrower and torching the poster that he was reaching for. "Don't touch it," her voice was raspy and dark.

She turned back to Russia and her face lit up, sparkling in the sun, "I will be taking them down for you, Brother!"