Awesome Arrival!

[mostremaining]

Characters: Gilbert Beilschmidt/Prussia and YOU! Come on in and greet him!
Setting: Room 3-18, the hallway outside it, and the cafeteria. The morning of the 12th. So Gilbert can go nuts over the pumpkin pancakes.
Format: I'm making the post itself in prose, but I'll happily switch to action brackets for the comments if you want it!
Summary: Gilbert arrives in the Tower. Exploration and mayhem ensues.
Warnings: Possibly PG-13 for potential pottymouthing on Gilbert's part. Also, there may be the messy consequences of consuming something other than oatmeal should you let him eat those pumpkin pancakes. STOP HIM!


Room 3-18 + Dorm Hallways

Gilbert's eyes flicked open to an unfamiliar ceiling (after staring at his own ceiling for so long, he'd become quite acquainted with its cracks). He was unable to move to stretch out, but he simply attributed this to being too sleepy. Once the "sleepiness" faded and he was able to move and stretch out, he sat up to find that he was decidedly not in his room. Following an ungainly squawk of shock, he zipped out of bed to investigate it. In the trunk he found two spare outfits, an old sword of his that he'd kept in storage (and the sword belt that went with it), a strange nest... and a yellow, winged friend. "Hey, little guy," he cooed, carefully lifting the bird out of the trunk and placing it in its customary spot on his head. He felt something odd around his neck at this point and discovered the collar with the violet tubing. What the hell was this? It didn't seem to be doing any harm, so Gilbert didn't bother to give it much attention. He could play with it later.

It was then he noticed the two scraps of paper on his bed. He picked up the first one (this one being the one with the instructions on it) and read it over, nodding to himself. Okay, so this at least told him a little about the strange place he'd suddenly been taken to. How hospitable of his captors. Then he picked up the second paper and proceeded to gawk at it. His world had been destroyed, and he had been saved? What kind of hogwash was that? The world was just fine when he'd gone to sleep last night! This had to be some kind of hoax. Besides, in the back of his mind, he always figured that he'd be the first to die when the world ended due to his weak connection to a country. If the world had been destroyed, he'd be way dead by this point. He gave the bird on his head a pat and said, "Come on, little guy, let's go find West. He might be here too."

Following that resolution, he started running up and down the halls of the dormitory, screaming "WEST!" at the top of his lungs, futilely looking for his little brother.



Cafeteria

After a while, Gilbert could no longer ignore the sound of his belly. Following the instructions on that one sheet of paper, he made his way to the cafeteria. He was given the customary oatmeal, and initially Gilbert just shrugged at the offering... and then he saw the pumpkin pancakes. Pancakes! This place couldn't be bad if there were delicious pancakes (even though he saw no maple syrup)! He promptly put a huge stack of pancakes on a plate and decided that perhaps he could eat them with the oatmeal he was given. Completely oblivious to what would happen if he ate the pancakes first (which he would), he made his way to a table with a self-satisfied smirk. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all... maybe.

Comments

[mostremaining]

"That's... not good." So the people running this place were crazy people who liked to shove other people into costumes. That didn't bode well for anything. "So you've seen it happen before... huh." Gilbert stared longingly at the pancakes... he was not the best at delaying gratification for anything unless he was on the battlefield. He remembered the weird collar around his neck, and it gave him an idea. "Do you think it's because of this thing?" he asked, sliding one finger under his collar.

[tohko_amano]

"It's not..but I have to admit, other than this costume and the possiblity of dying, finding candy in odd places is a bit fun." Tohko chuckled.

Tohko looked at her own yellow collar and shrugged. "It might be. To be honest, I really don't know. No one really knows much about these collars, and it's not like anyone tells us." She sighed.

[mostremaining]

"That 'possibility of dying' thing is a big one, though!" That just about sealed the deal for Gilbert. This place was bad news. The people running the tower weren't just crazy people who liked shoving others into costumes; they were crazy people who drew others into a game where lots of people could be killed. "Uh... I guess I'll be a good boy and eat my oatmeal first... wouldn't want to end up getting killed for it or anything." Gilbert should probably try and ask an obvious question. "Is there a way out of here?"

[tohko_amano]

"It's big..but since you just regenerate after you die, it's not a huge deal around here. There are penalties for dying though..and if you die too much, you'll get a huge punishment." Tohko replied, trying to calm down the guy.

"And you won't die if you don't eat your oatmeal. You'll throw up." Tohko thought for a moment before sighing. "I don't think there is a way out of here. If there is, I'm not aware of it, and I haven't heard of it."

[mostremaining]

"Wait, what?! You regenerate after you die?! How's that possible?" Coming back from death wasn't totally unheard of amongst nations, but for perfectly ordinary people to have access to it? That was a little freaky. "And I meant... if there was a punishment other than throwing up from not eating my oatmeal, I didn't want it. It sounds like lots of things try to kill you in this tower, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was also death involved here."

[tohko_amano]

"I have no idea. It's not like the people at the top let you know everything around here." Tohko replied. "Besides, again, it's not like you just get to regenerate without a penalty. And if you die too many times, you get punished." Tohko repeated.

"And no, you won't die if you don't eat your oatmeal. You'll just throw up. Although..you might die from starvation if you don't eat it, not that I think of it. And yeah..a lot of things try to kill you here." Tohko sighed.

[mostremaining]

"Huh. So death equals bad. Even if you get to come back. Got it." Now Gilbert had an idea as to why that old sword had been sent with him. "Oh, don't worry, I plan to eat my oatmeal. I'm not going to be caught dying of starvation while there's definitely food around!" He paused for a moment and looked the girl over (not in a leering way; simply a curious one). "Say, what's your name? We haven't even done the usual introductions yet."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko chuckled. "Alright then. Glad to hear that. And I'm Tohko Amano, the book girl. How about you?"

[mostremaining]

"The book girl, huh? I never would have guessed." Well, he meant that. How would he have known? "I'm known as the nation of Prussia! But you can just call me Gilbert. Gilbert Beilschmidt. Explanations can come after I've gotten some food in my belly." With that, he he swallowed a spoonful of oatmeal and made a face. "Bleagh. This stuff really does taste like cardboard. And I can't even put anything in it to make it taste better! This sucks."

[tohko_amano]

"Well, I'm not surprised..it's not like this costume is book-themed, and I don't have a book on me right now. However, if you want to know whether a book is de-erm, interesting, let me know!" Tohko cried happily.

Tohko looked at Gilbert quizzically. How could this guy be the nation of Prussia. Prussia died a long, long time ago. Besides, nations weren't people. What kind of story was this? Oh well. Gilbert did say that he'd explain after he ate, so she put it aside for now.

"Yeah..it does taste pretty nasty. However, I found that putting chocolate syrup and pumpkin spices in it made it a bit more edible." Tohko said. To be honest..she had no idea whether her advice would work, as her own taste buds were unusual, to say the least. Still, it was worth a try.

[mostremaining]

Gilbert picked up on the funny look. "What's with the look?" However, he shook it off when Tohko continued speaking. "That doesn't sound bad! But I'd better not risk putting any other stuff in here... I'm really not looking forward to barfing everything up. Maybe if I'm ever stuck with oatmeal again, I'll try it." Suddenly, Gilbert began to eat his oatmeal double-time. Hey, the faster he ate it, the faster he could get to those delicious-looking pancakes.

[tohko_amano]

"Well..how can you be Prussia? Prussia's a country, and it doesn't exist anymore, for that matter." Tohko asked.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't throw up if you do that. That's how I ate my oatmeal, and I was just fine!" Tohko doubted her advice would be used though, as Prussia was gulping down the stuff even faster.

[mostremaining]

Here Gilbert frowned. "Yeah? What about that?" He'd gotten better with the "Prussia doesn't exist anymore" thing, but it still stung a bit whenever it was brought up. "Where I come from, there are people who represent nations. I'm one of them." Well, technically was one of them, but he wasn't going to get into that.

"Is that so?" Gilbert stopped to consider the notion, then just shrugged it off. "I think I'll just get it down as fast as I can. It'll still suck with all those other things in it, anyway."

[tohko_amano]

"I see..but if Prussia doesn't exist anymore, I don't see why you need to represent him." Tohko said. She still wasn't quite sure why Prussia represented the country.

"Ah, alright then. I guess you can eat all the pancakes you want when you finish."

[mostremaining]

"Why? Because..." What was Gilbert going to do, admit that he represented a dead nation upfront? Nah. "Because reasons. I was Prussia, am Prussia, and always will be Prussia." Yeah, that sounded about right. A little self-reinforcement never hurt.

"Oh, believe me, I will!" he said with a goofy grin. "This place can't be that bad if they have pancakes! ...I guess, anyway. It sounds like you're in a bad-news situation."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed. That didn't make much sense, but she'd let it go. It seemed that he didn't want to give up any more information now. Maybe later.

"How am I in a bad-news situation?" Tohko asked. Wouldn't he be the one in a bad situation?

[mostremaining]

"You know... this thing with the costumes. It sounds like trouble." Gilbert took another spoonful of oatmeal. "Wouldn't you say it's bad news?"

[tohko_amano]

"Ah, that. Well, like I said, even though there's the possibility of dying..and even though this costume is tight and embarrassing, collecting the candies is a bit fun. And besides, as long as you collect your quota for the day, you should be fine!" Tohko replied with a grin.

[mostremaining]

"As long as you collect your quota... and you die if you don't?" Gilbert wasn't exactly convinced. "I don't know... If I were in your position, I think I'd be too freaked out to be having fun. You're an optimist, aren't you?" He smiled just a bit at that last part. Optimism was kind of refreshing, sometimes.

[tohko_amano]

"I have been called that." Tohko replied with a small chuckle. "I guess I'm just not really worried about dying right now. As long as I know I have my quota filled, I keep on going. Plus, it feels great with you find candy in unexpected spots!"

[mostremaining]

"Don't you ever feel nervous when you find you're running a little low, though?" Gilbert cocked his head curiously. "But it sounds like you haven't been having much trouble. Have you?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed. "I do feel a little nervous and worried when I don't think I have enough..but since candy has been plentiful, I haven't had too much of a problem!" Tohko wasn't sure if the candy situation would change, but she was just happy that everything was going great right now.

[mostremaining]

"Well, good to know things are going well for you! Let's hope they stay that way, huh?" Gilbert gave Tohko a teasing salute, spoon still in hand. "Good luck. Let's hope nothing suddenly changes on us."

[tohko_amano]

"Thanks! And yeah, hopefully things will stay this way." Tohko grinned at Gilbert's salute and curtseyed in response. "Thanks. You too. Hopefully things will be peaceful for a little longer."

[mostremaining]

Suddenly, Gilbert frowned. "What do we do when it's not peaceful, though? Any tips?"