[Sock, Open RP] Melancholy

[livingaustria]

Austria sat at a window, looking out at the dreary weather outside. Of all the things he's done in his millennium of existence, what he just did was one of the toughest. Has any other country had to tell a fellow man that he no longer existed? Austria didn't think so

Comments

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura was out wandering, thinking, not quite with anything in mind other than being out for a while. He followed the sounds, uncertain what they were or what caused them, only that they seemed pleasant, if lonely. He paused in the door, just listening.

[livingaustria]

Once Austria finished playing, he set down his violin, and sighed. He caught someone in his perhipheral vision and looked up.

"Oh. Hello again."

[elegantsamurai]

"It has been a while," Yukimura commented, stepping into the room. "Have you been well?" If the sounds that the instrument was making were any indication, Yukimura didn't think so.

[livingaustria]

"I had. And then the last country I expected to enter the Sorting Room did."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura tilted his head. "Oh?" he asked, moving to to take a sit on one of the couches. "And, that upsets you?" he asked, gesturing at the seat, indicating that Austria should join him.

[livingaustria]

Austria, getting the hint, moved and sat next to Yukimura. "Countries, like people, can die. It doesn't happen often, usually they just adapt to the changes, but...there have been a few that just...couldn't."

Austria swallowed. "He was known as the Holy Roman Empire. He had once been the seat of power in Central Europe, but he got spread out too thin and other powers tried to destroy him. They eventually succeed."

Austria fiddled with his sleeve. "He's in the Sorting Room. I had to tell him he doesn't exist anymore."

[elegantsamurai]

"That does not sound pleasant," Yukimura sympathized. "Was he one that you knew before you came?" he asked, reaching over to touched Austria's hand gently.

[livingaustria]

"Yes. A long time ago. Back when Italy was my servant, he had a bit of a crush on him. Of course, he thought Italy was a girl." Austria smiled faintly. "At the time, we all did."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura tilted his head a little. "It sounds as if there have been many changes." This didn't really surprise him. Even with as isolated as Japan was, it's history was rife with conflict. He was beginning to get the idea that those caused the changes in the incarnate countries. "Did this Italy wear pretty clothes?" he asked, a ripple of amusement in his voice.

[livingaustria]

"I suppose so, if he caught Römisches's eye." Austria leaned back, smiling more broadly. "I remember one time Hungary dressed him in her native clothes. He was so colorful."

[elegantsamurai]

"Ah, I shall have to find out more about these clothes," Yukimura laughed. He had a fondness for things that were pretty. "People here have so many kinds of clothes. Are these," he gestured at Austria, "your traditional clothes? Or do you wear what is common?"

[livingaustria]

Austria looked down at his outfit-a typical 18th century outfit.

"It used to be, a couple centuries back. It started to be less popular the more modernized I became. Nowadays you only see outfits like these as costumes in plays and movies."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura tilted his head a little. "It is a charming outfit, if rather different from what I am used to. I have never seen such before here." He laughed. "But, then, from what I have found out, kimono are not common any more, either."

[livingaustria]

Austria shrugged. "I wouldn't know much about that. By the time I met Japan, he had already adopted a more...militaristic outfit."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura laughed a little. "We are a proud people with long memories," he said. "War is as important as peace in our history. The time I am from is the end of the Warring States Era."

[livingaustria]

"So I know. I had heard of and occasionally seen Japan before his isolation, but I never really met him until the years in between the two world wars. And still only through Germany. He told me of how serious your country is."