And So Begins the Game

[lastmodstanding]

Who: EVERYONE
When: Day 1, morning
Where: Wouldn't you like to know?
Summary: It's the start of the game, all Participants get to find out wtf is happening. Sort of.

Comments

[infotehnoloogia]

The ever-anxious Estonia had, until then, contented himself with staying silent around the other nations, most of which were already at each other's throats before the 'game' had even started. Not because he didn't have any questions about the rules, mind; it was because he was busy in his own little world of gloom, asking himself questions like could Russia be responsible for this?, and would the winner be so kind as to return my land later?, and more importantly, why did it have to be me?. It was bad enough that he was there in the first place, being made to participate in someone's sick idea of entertainment. But as he looked around and made note of who he was up against, he began to doubt his chances of survival more and more.

He had already been conquered by some of these nations in the past (such that a pit formed in his stomach at the sight of Denmark), and he was certain that others could overpower him just as easily. Granted, he was on good political terms with many of them, just as they were (for the most part) on good terms with each other. The woman at the front had been very, very clear in stating the objective of the game, however, and there could only be one winner. Any one of these countries would do whatever they could to hold onto their land and their people, and rightfully so. But the odds appeared to be less and less in his favor by the minute, and Estonia was already mentally preparing himself for the worst.

That said, the Baltic nation swallowed back a lump in his throat when he heard his name called, collecting his things and moving towards the gate with nervous haste. As he passed the strange woman with the clipboard, he offered her a pitiful smile that he hoped said something to the effect of I don't suppose there's a more peaceful route to victory?, but in reality said HELP ME!. It wilted quickly, and he made the rest of his exit with his head down.

[thousandlakes]

During the whole commotion, Finland had kept his head down and just let the gears turn there. While he was excited at such a competition, the stakes were too high for him to truly enjoy it. He didn't want to lose his land, his people, or his money, but he didn't want anyone else to lose theirs either! And the idea of serving another nation for any amount of time... It felt like he'd only just finished struggling to avoid exactly that with Russia! And as much as he liked Sweden, he really didn't want to have to serve him again. Denmark was just out of the question.

Of course, there was one nation he could always turn to. He looked around for his friend as the names were called. When he heard it, he rushed up to meet him before he could leave. "H-Hey! Estonia, wait, please!"

Surely, surely he could look to Estonia for support, right?

[infotehnoloogia]

Estonia did a quick (and therefore, rather clumsy) double-take as he heard his name. "Fi- Finland?" He knew that voice anywhere, and a brief readjustment of his glasses confirmed it. "Soome! It really is you!"

Whether he meant to or not, the Balt heaved a loud sigh of relief. Of all the nations present, Estonia knew he would always be able to rely on Finland, and he was lucky that his friend was the first country to have approached him. His face still wrought with concern, Estonia attempted a weak smile as he made his way back over. But he was grateful for the company, even if he didn't show it; in fact, Estonia even allowed himself to think that maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

He didn't know what to say- simple questions like how have you been? or what are you doing here? seemed ill-fitting in this situation- but he was determined to keep his spirits up around the Finn. Estonia fidgeted a bit, a gesture reminiscent of his younger brother, and thought of something to say.

"Well...," he began, adjusting his glasses a second time. "This is a rather bizarre competition, even for us. Isn't it?"

His laugh was awkward and short, and in an attempt to play it off, Estonia cleared his throat and looked away. On second thought, he may have been better off with a greeting.

[thousandlakes]

"Yes! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Finland all but flung himself at his old friend, choosing instead to show some discretion for once and simply grasp Estonia's hands tightly. "I really have to admit I don't like this kind of game!"

He let it sound like something said in jest, paired with an earnest smile, but his honesty was plain on his face, the way he brought his brows together; he meant exactly that. Their creative festivals had given rise to things most peculiar, yes, but never something so dangerous. He tried very hard to ignore the collar around his friend's neck, identical to his own, as he thought of a polite way to ask for an impromptu alliance-one which was almost guaranteed by the rules to be dissolved anyway.

Ah... Finland tried very hard to ignore that thought too. "Viro, will you-would you help me?" Well, that wasn't very polite, but he didn't suppose they had much time, really.

[infotehnoloogia]

Well, that went over better than he had thought! Estonia smiled again, more natural and relaxed, as he took his friend's hands. "Nor do I," he replied, though it didn't take him long to think of someone who would.

When Finland asked him for his help, however, his smile became a baffled stare. "Help you?" he repeated. "To win, you mean?"

It wasn't that Estonia didn't want to help, but he didn't even know if he could. He knew that they couldn't both win, and even if he were to work with Finland, in the end, one of them would have to 'kill' the other. The Baltic state wasn't going to fool himself; Finland, for all his short stature, outdid him in battle prowess. He couldn't forget how his friend had helped him in times of war so easily.

Still, as much as he wanted to hold on to his independence, Estonia knew he would be in good hands if Finland were to win. His smile returned, and after a while he nodded in response. "Well, I'll do my best!" he said, pointedly ignoring how morbid his proclamation seemed. Who really wanted to 'do their best' to kill their neighbors and allies? "If I have to live under someone else's roof again, I would rather it be yours."

[thousandlakes]

Finland hadn't really meant to ask for Estonia to help him, he meant to say something much more diplomatic and also less creepy (because when he really thought about it, he supposed "help me kill lots of nations" was pretty creepy.) He had reached a similar conclusion as Estonia had about who might find pleasure in a gruesome game like this, and in fact could think of more than one. The world in either of their hands would be a frightening place.

"To, eh, to help either of us, really... Because I think if you won and I gave you my money, no one would notice anything!" he said lightly, practically doing acrobatics in his head to sidestep the fact that it would still involve on of them killing the other-even if they were technically guaranteed to survive the death, as nations after all, it would still surely be an unpleasant experience not that he was thinking about i!

Really, helping Estonia win wouldn't be too terrible for Finland, because really, he already gave Estonia a lot of money for alcohol anyway. And when he thought about it, maybe helping Sweden wouldn't be that big a problem either, since a lot of his citizens were Swedish to begin with. Both of those options looked better to him than losing his land (which he was prepared to fight to the death for last time) or his freedom (the same) but he didn't want to see his friend meet the same fate.

[infotehnoloogia]

"No, I don't think they would!" he agreed, although his pale cheeks turned pink and his laughter sounded somewhat stilted. There was no denying how he relied upon Finland, and he knew deep down that working with his good friend wouldn't change a thing... at least, between them. The question of what would happen between the winning and losing countries after the 'game' ended still begged an answer, and at the moment, he didn't have one.

Estonia pushed his glasses up and straightened himself out, becoming visibly more confident in Finland's presence. He now had one ally, and a good one at that; that alone was much better than the pity-party he had been throwing himself just moments ago.

"We ought to keep moving," he said, turning towards the gate. "We'll have more time to come up with a plan after we find a place to hide." Assuming they were going to hide at all. That had been his intention from the beginning, anyway.

[thousandlakes]

"Yeah, definitely." Finland too had intended to hide in the forests while he put together a strategy, a tactic that had always worked well for him in the past. If they could become familiar with that part of the island, they'd be better off. Then they could discuss how to keep each other and themselves alive, and two was always better than one. Even if Estonia didn't fight as much as say Sweden had, he was clever, and Finland knew he was more than dependable.

"I'll get my bag," and just as he said it his name was called. He detoured slightly from their path towards the backpacks provided. He nodded to the woman calling the names (because after all, she was just hired to provide instructions, it wasn't her fault they were here so it did no good to be angry at her) and snagged his bag from the pile before stepping back into place beside Estonia. "Ummmm. How about... that way?" he suggested, pointing into a random direction of the forest.

[infotehnoloogia]

Oh, right; Finland still needed his bag. As Estonia waited for him to get one, he looked down at his own, idly wondering what provisions they had been given. Moreover, what was he going to be fighting with? Estonia was reluctant to open the bag until they were well outside area A-6, but he hoped that, whatever weapon he had been given, it would be a good one.

When Finland returned and suggested a direction, Estonia once again readjusted his glasses (something that had become a nervous habit of his) and nodded. "Alright then," he said. "But we should move quickly. The area we're in is set to become a danger zone within the next ten minutes... er, whatever a 'danger zone' is." And if he knew anything about these danger zones, he knew that he wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out what being in one was like.

Estonia looked back at Finland before he set off into the forest, making sure he wasn't about to venture out alone. For a few minutes, the only sounds coming out of him were those made by his steps, and it wasn't until they were well out of the gates that he thought to voice his concerns. "Hey, Soome? Have you, er... well, do you think we should open our bags now?" he asked, looking at his as if it, rather than other nations, would attack him. "I'd... I'd assume our weapons are in there."

[thousandlakes]

In the silence that followed their entrance to the forest, Finland had kept his ears trained to pick up every possible sound, and looked around constantly in order to get a full view of their surroundings. The better acquainted they were with the environment, the more likely they were to find good hiding places, and thus, the longer they could survive. He knew other nations would probably turn to the forest as well but he could still try to get a head-start.

A welcome distraction cut through his concentration, Estonia's query bringing Finland spinning back. "Ehh? Oh, yeah, we should see what we've got..."

He sat down at the foot of a tree and unceremoniously dumped out the contents of his bag onto the soft ground. He was glad to see rations, water, a map and compass... simple survival gear. And there, that bundle. That had to be the weapon, right? It looked small, too small, and Finland picked it up awkwardly. "Here goes!" He tore open the bundle and snapped open the box that tumbled out.

And stared, jaw slack. "...Ch...Chopsticks?!"

[infotehnoloogia]

That couldn't be Finland's weapon. Could it?

"W-Well," Estonia started, trying to think of an explanation for the utensils that fell out of his friend's bag. "Those could be... those could be some of our provisions! They do use them to eat in some countries, so perhaps whoever put these together thought we might need them..."

But as the Baltic state fished through his own bag, he didn't see anything that might have been a box of chopsticks. Instead he saw a much larger package, with a very distinct shape. "You, ah... you wouldn't have one of these, too, would you?" Estonia reached for what he would soon learn was his weapon, and hoped it wasn't really what it looked like.

Unfortunately, it was exactly what it looked like: a frying pan.

"Th-These must be provisions, too," he said, his face paling. "... right?"

[thousandlakes]

Dear God, was Estonia holding a frying pan? That was it, they were doomed. "No," Finland replied, shaking his empty bag over his small pile of rations, his disbelieving eyes still fixed on, honest to God, a pair of pretty bone chopsticks. "Th-this is all I have!"

On second thought, maybe they should ally themselves with Sweden, because he was almost assuredly going to have been assigned a better weapon than chopsticks or a frying pan. Ah-well, hey...

"Didn't one of the other nations use a frying pan? I-I guess it's not that bad, really, right?" He tried to smile at Estonia. Of course, he still wanted to have a Talk with the people running this and ask who in their right mind would qualify chopsticks as a weapon.

[infotehnoloogia]

"Well then," Estonia was trying to make light of the situation. Unfortunately, the look on his face was one of dread. "Perhaps we could persuade other nations not to kill us by having them over for dinner! We can't fight with these!"

He was hardly comforted by the idea that somebody else might have been able to use a frying pan as a weapon; if anything, it only served to terrify him. Who among them was so brutal that they'd bludgeon someone with a household item?! "We should form an alliance with them, then," he said, putting his frying pan back into his bag with a sigh. "That is, if they're here..."

Estonia then pulled a map from his bag, hoping that they could at least take comfort in knowing where they were. "In the meantime, we'll have to find a better place to hide." Seeing their sorry excuses for weapons pretty much cemented his belief that there was no better plan than to take cover. They either needed luck on their side, or someone with a much better weapon than theirs. Preferably the latter.

[thousandlakes]

"Yeah," Finland agreed. "I think it was Hungary, she's helped me before... 'course that was years ago..." He considered the chopsticks in his hand with a furrowed brow and unhappy face, running through a list of ways he could make them useful. Perhaps they could tie them together and make a single spectacularly useless arrow, or sharpen them and... Ah, maybe he had something there, he thought, so he tucked both it and the chopsticks away to deal more with later.

He pulled out his own map and looked at it carefully, the memory of words of warning practically ringing through the silence. "Danger Zones, wasn't that what that woman said? Change every eight hours, three minutes to get out..." His fingers traced the lines on the grid. "We should stick close to the border lines, only go through the middle if we have to. That way we won't get stuck somewhere we can't get out of quickly."

[infotehnoloogia]

"Hungary," he repeated. "Well, it... couldn't hurt to make her an ally. That is, if she's even here." But the thought of counting more countries as their allies didn't sit as well as he would have liked it to. Estonia should have liked to ally himself with as many people as he could, but that defeated the purpose of the 'game,' and no matter who he sided with, he knew he would have to fight them somewhere down the line. It was bad enough that he'd eventually have to do the same to Finland.

Regardless, Estonia started moving again, still studying the map in his hands. "We should get out of this area, to begin with," he said, nodding in concurrence with Finland's suggestion. "But, ah... what if we run into another country? Or more than one, if they've formed a team? We can't exactly fight them with a frying pan and chopsticks."

[thousandlakes]

Finland swore heartily enough that it could have wilted the nearby flora and threw the rest of his rations back into his bag. Estonia was right, they couldn't stop moving, not here. "We'll be fine for a while if we hide," he said seriously, pushing his apprehensiveness to the back of his head and deciding to try to look at it like it was supposed to be: a game. Focus on survival, then deal with systematic slaughter. It was, after all, a tactic that had done him well in the past, particularly against nations caught in over their heads.

Unfortunately, there was no way he would be able to learn these woods as intimately as he knew his own, they simply didn't have enough time. And unless he wanted to risk getting them both lost and possibly killed...

"It would be better if we followed the trail on the map," he said, finishing his thought out loud. "At least until we're out of the grid. Come on." He turned in the direction the trail was supposed to be and set off swiftly, his bag hitched over his shoulder.