Picking Up The Pieces [Ivan]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 734 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred should have felt relieved. The War Between the States was finally over, along with the source of many of his recent troubles. With each passing day, though, it became apparent that the road to recovery would be an exceedingly long one. Reconstruction was going to be a long, arduous process, and Alfred could feel the tension still present between his northern and southern states. He still had nightmares, recurrent nightmares that he suspected wouldn't go away for a long while, if at all. Many of the battles of the war replayed over and over again in his head at night during these dreams, and he couldn't escape them. He wouldn't be surprised if centuries in the future he still had the occasional nightmare about this time. He was aware of just how much it took a toll on him, his states, and his citizens. He still had difficulty looking at his reflection. On the bright side, it was his reflection once more. No longer did a doppleganger of separate mind stand before him. Without this distraction, though, Alfred was forced to instead focus his eyes on the scars that littered his body. The young nation was no stranger to scars. He had a few small ones from the Revolution, as well as a faint burn scar over his heart from the burning of Washington D.C. in 1814. The scars on his body now were more numerable. They were also more pronounced. Alfred supposed that at least part of this had to do with how recent most of them were, in the scheme of things, but it did not make him feel better. There was also the matter of the giant scar that spanned across his midsection, seeming to divide him into two. It was by far the most notable of the scars he'd obtained in this recent war...and the most notable out of all of his scars. It was also the scar that bothered him the most. He'd obtained it at his own hand, shortly before the war broke out. It was both a physical and symbolic mark of what exactly occurred. The wound was a reminder of a moment of weakness, of suffering, of a time where he was very nearly picked apart at the seams. He had to stare at this every time he gazed at his reflection, and it made him nauseous. He crept out from the gaze of his bedroom mirror and into the sitting room, where he took a seat in his favored chair after preparing a cup of coffee for himself. On top of that, Alfred was still coping with the loss of Lincoln. There was no doubt that Abraham's death had hit him harder than any death of a president since the founding fathers. And the way he'd gone. Never before had he lost a president to something so violent, and after all the man had done for him. Alfred was grateful toward Abraham. He helped to keep the nation whole. To make matters worse, he could easily picture his doppleganger's commentary on the matter. He'd say that Lincoln deserved it. With this thought, a sudden surge of fury went through Alfred, and the cup of coffee nestled in Alfred's left hand was suddenly thrown against the opposite wall. Had most others thrown it, said coffee cup would have likely hit the wall and shattered into many small pieces. Since Alfred threw it without holding back his strength, the coffee cup went flying through the wall. Shortly after throwing it, Alfred was surprised to hear what he could swear was a voice outside his door, followed by a couple of knocks. He calmed a little, wondering who it could be. Perhaps Danii? She'd taken to stopping by quite often since 'the other guy wasn't around anymore', in her words. The voice he'd heard sounded masculine though. Still smiling nonetheless, Alfred pulled open the door. His smile dropped at once, though not because he wasn't happy to see the person at that point in time (though call him back in a century and things would be a lot different). No, he was surprised more than anything. "Russia? What are you doing here?" Well this was unexpected! [/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Russia had been vaguely cheering on the Union throughout the American civil war. He hadn’t actually really sent any support, but he had supported one side over the other and stated as such. The other nation knew how Civil Wars were, because he’d already been in two. Yes, you heard that right, Russia had already been in two Civil Wars by the time America had one. To be fair, Ivan was far older that Alfred, and so had been in a million and a half wars or so. Actually, he hadn’t been in any during Alfred’s Civil war, but he was interested in watching it unfold. It was always interesting how everyone dealt with Civil wars or other wars. He did vaguely enjoy seeing other nations go vaguely insane for a while, because then it meant he wasn’t the only one. Many of them seemed to bounce back to normal though, but he didn’t quite bounce to normal. Sure he didn’t quite have a split personality, but he wasn’t exactly all sane either. Then again, it had been a long time since he had been sane that was for certain. Probably since Mongolia had taken over actually. He had been mostly sane before then, but it was a very oppressive rule in which his people suffered horribly. Mongolia seemed to like him for some reason, but with the way he acted it kind of warped his sense of what liking someone was supposed to be like. That was beside the point, and now he had come to see Alfred out of morbid curiosity. What other reason could there be for him to show up? Well, he did suppose there were other reasons he could show up, like to annoy a few other nations or something, but really he was just curious. Did other nations cope better with Civil War? Or did they not do as well. It was something he was interested in knowing, and now that he wasn’t currently in some sort of war, he could see just exactly how that went. Also, he knew from experience any sort of distraction was welcome to get your mind off what had happened. Thus, he was there as a distraction and out of morbid curiosity. What sort of distraction he was going to be was going to be figured out as he went. One could never tell what sort of distraction someone would need until you started interacting with them a bit. Thus, he’d talk to Alfred, and decide how to proceed from there, and hopefully not just be kicked out in ten minutes. He was well aware there were a number of nations that didn’t like him, or only tolerated him during alliances. Which, really, was why he had almost nobody he’d consider a friend. His capital was one of the few people he was actually close to, and she was more like family to be honest. Anyway, he located Alfred’s house and was walking up to the door when he saw a coffee cup go flying through the wall. Well, that was certainly interesting, and probably both a testament to how stable Alfred was and how strong he was. ”Things are going well then I see…” he said mostly to himself before walking up to the door and knocking. It seemed that he surprised Alfred, and he wasn’t sure it was in a good way. Seemed he was very confused, guessing from the question he was asked. ”I figured you might need a distraction actually.” he answered with a shrug. That was mostly true, he had another reason, but he wasn’t exactly about to mention it because he was pretty sure that would get him tossed out. Thus, he went with his other reason, and hoped that Alfred didn’t just shut the door in his face. That would be rude after all, and hopefully the younger nation had slightly better manners than that. 654 / Mandee and Alfred / Flying cups away~ [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 535 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred's Civil War had tugged at his sanity majorly. He was making progress, but he knew it would be a long time before he recovered. He would probably never recover 100% even then. He still wondered what would have happened to him had the war ended differently. Would there have been two personifications at that point? Would Alfred have remained "split" mentally instead? Neither sounded particularly like something Alfred would have wanted. No, this was the best way it could have ended in his opinion. Reconstruction would be a headache, there was no doubt about that, but it was better than any of the alternatives he'd considered. The younger nation actually had nothing against Russia at the time (again, ask him one hundred years later and his views would be very different). Of all the nations to visit, Ivan certainly wasn't one of the ones Alfred expected. It was not a bad sort of surprise - Just a surprise. The older nation was apparently there to offer a distraction. What sort of distraction Ivan was proposing, Alfred had no idea. He might merely be keeping Alfred company, or he might be there with a specific goal in mind. When it came to nations one didn't often interact with, it was hard to tell. Alfred hadn't seen much of Ivan since his Revolution, and even then, he hadn't met the Eastern European nation too many times. He didn't entirely know what to expect of the other nation. "Come in. You want me to call you Ivan or Russia?" He decided it was best to get that out of the way first and foremost. Usually he called other personifications by their human names in casual conversation, but he didn't know how casual Ivan wanted this to be. For all he knew, the so-called distraction that Ivan was providing could be completely business. "You can call me either Alfred or America, doesn't matter too much to me." Just so long as he didn't get called Lee or Confederacy. As far as he knew, his alter ego was gone, but he didn't want to take any risks. It was too soon after everything that happened. Even now, he felt a sense of paranoia creep up on him every time he looked into the mirror. Any odd movements made his heart skip a beat. Who could blame him, though, considering his unreliable mental state during his Civil War? Once the other nation was inside, Alfred closed the door behind him and headed back into the house himself. "Have a seat if you want." Alfred did not plan on sitting unless Ivan sat as well. Other than a broken mirror stashed in the corner, most of the items he'd broken during fits in the recent war were cleared out. Disregarding this solid piece of evidence as to his mental state during his Civil War, Alfred instead focused his attention on getting the answers to one of his prior questions. "Now, what sort of distraction did you have in mind?" If he did not have anything in mind, that was fine, but Alfred was curious if Ivan came with a plan. [/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Ivan was well aware that he was probably at least slightly surprising the younger nation with his visit. Then again, did anyone ever expect Ivan to visit? Probably not to be perfectly honest, and he liked to keep it that way. He was an unpredictable person, and that helped him win fights so he was content with being unpredictable. Though, it was entirely possible that him being absolutely nuts helped with that quite a bit, but that wasn’t the point. Anyway, he wasn’t sure if he was staying at the other nation’s place or not yet, and so while he had packed a bag, he would probably end up in a hotel somewhere while conducting his investigation of sorts on the other nation. He wasn’t about to tell the other nation that was what he was doing, but it didn’t matter that he didn’t because he could just continue to make up reasons all he wanted. After all, it was hard to tell if a crazy person was lying or just delusional, and he would work with that. He was fairly certain that he wasn’t actually delusional, but that was probably something a delusional person would say, and so he’d just agree to disagree with himself on that particular subject. In itself, that probably sounded slightly insane, and he was glad that he didn’t have a habit of speaking his thoughts out loud right at this moment. Anyway, Alfred had invited him in and he walked behind the other nation. He heard the question and thought about it for a moment. ”You know, I don’t think I’ve ever particularly cared one way or the other. Pick one and stick with it? Though, if we go somewhere, Ivan would probably be a better idea.” he said with a slight smile and a shrug. Then heard that Alfred didn’t particularly care which he was called, and it seemed they had something in common for that respect. Neither of them seemed to care which name they were called. Honestly though, if he had a preference he would probably rather not be called Rus. He hadn’t gone by that name in a long time, and it didn’t bring back fond memories either, so he would rather avoid that. Hopefully America wasn’t a fan of shortening their nation names or something. He wasn’t going to mention it unless it came up though, and was thus avoiding the conversation full of questions that could go with it. Anyway, he was offered a seat and took one on the couch. Whether the other nation would sit next to him or not was up to him. Hearing the next question though, he had to ponder it a bit actually. What sort of distraction did he have in mind? ”Does it matter? Any sort of distraction really. It depends on what you are up for actually.” he said with a slight grin. That was true enough, because if Alfred wasn’t up for any sort of distraction then this was probably a bit of a wasted trip, but he figured that he would be. Ivan typically was up for any sort of distraction after a Civil War if only so he could forget long enough to make the pain subside. As long as the pain stopped it didn’t matter what he did, even if it would eventually return, it was just the fact that it was gone for a while that helped. 572 / Mandee and Alfred / All the Distractions? [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 560 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred certainly hadn't been expecting any visitors. Only a few other nations had even popped by during the Civil War. This was probably for the best, as it meant that fewer people saw Alfred in the sorry condition he was in at the time. That wasn't exactly something he wanted advertised to the world. Ivan was not one of those visitors, and yet he'd declared support for the Union. Alfred himself had been torn at the time (both figuratively and literally), but when his body didn't relinquish control to his alter ego, he felt as though he had no choice but to support Union efforts. They were, after all, trying to keeping him whole. There was no way that he would go against those efforts. Not to mention he actually liked Lincoln. The man helped him through such a hard time, both personally and as a nation, and Alfred had a strong feeling that the man would be near the top of his list of favored presidents for a long time coming. When Ivan took a seat, Alfred took a seat next to him. He saw no reason not to (at this point anyway), and if he had to be honest, he enjoyed being in close proximity to people even more than usual so soon after the war. It provided a certain sort of comfort, and given that he tended to push people away during the war, it was a welcome change of pace. "Thanks for your support of the Union, by the way." Alfred told Ivan, extending a hand for the other nation to shake. He realized that his expression of gratitude was belated, but he still felt it was necessary. Ivan was the only one who outright declared support for the Union. Ivan and his government had even sent two fleets from the Imperial Russian Navy to Alfred's waters in case Francis and Arthur did step in. Alfred proceeded to comment on Ivan's choice of names. "I dunno, I'll probably use both if you don't care." That was what he tended to do, unless he knew the person pretty well. Then human names were used more often. He wasn't quite at the level with Ivan though. He'd have to give it a few tests before he decided whether using Ivan to address Russia was something that he felt comfortable with or not. Ivan's grin was strange, Alfred heard from other nations, and he could see what they meant. There was something...off about it. There was something off about Ivan in general. However, Alfred didn't exactly feel it was his place to judge. He was still feeling off in general himself from the Civil War he'd just gotten out of. How could he possibly comment on another nation's mental state given his own just a few months prior? Maybe later. Alfred just shrugged when Ivan asked him what sort of distraction he was looking for. He really hadn't put much thought into that. His eyes scanned the room in an attempt to find something that he and Ivan could do to pass the time. His gaze happened to pass over the broken mirror, and an involuntary shudder went through his body. "How about a game or two of poker?" he suggested.[/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Having company during a Civil War had never been high on his like list, but then again there wasn’t much that was high on his like list. Mostly he just didn’t like anything to be perfectly honest. Well, actually there were a few things, but they were just few and far between of course. One of his favorite things being Vodka, another was his sisters, but he would probably not openly admit that. That was for him to know only pretty much. Anyway, that wasn’t really important at the moment, though he did have vodka with him per usual. He was fairly certain it wasn’t something you could get over in this country, and so he had brought his own. He could always have more shipped over too if he found it was necessary. No, he hadn’t visited during the war, but he figured he probably wouldn’t have wanted company at the time anyway. There was enough to worry about with your own sanity let alone if you had guests over. Usually things tended to get messy, and while he could only speak for himself in that respect, trying to murder yourself repeatedly at random did not usually go over well with company. Sure it sometimes helped you from accidentally shooting yourself in the face when not realizing you’re arguing with yourself, but usually it was just generally a bad plan to try and get in the way. It really was entirely possible that it didn’t apply to Alfred in the slightest, and that was why he was here to see. Did others react in the insane way that he did, or were they different? He really was curious, but from the cup through the wall he did have a slight idea. That could have been something else entirely sure, but he was in serious doubt of that. Anyway, he was offered a seat and took it, and then Alfred sat beside him. Honestly, he didn’t know the younger nation much, as he had usually dealt with Arthur when trading with the colonies, so they had really never been all that acquainted. As opposed to all the nations he had fought wars with or against over the last several thousand or more years. He had certainly fought quite a few just up to this point, and he was sure he would fight in more with different allies depending on what was going on. Hearing the thanks, Ivan smiled again. ”Certainly, though picking sides in a Civil War can possibly backfire…I’m glad it didn’t in this occasion.” he noted simply. He reached out and shook Alfred’s extended hand with a grin. Hearing Alfred say that he would probably use both if he had no preference, and honestly didn’t have any sort of preference. ”That’s fine really it depends on the situation for which works better.” he said with a bit of a shrug. It also depended on the person and what they were more comfortable with saying. Sometimes it was odd calling one another human or country names because the situation didn’t really call for it, and thus he wasn’t picky about which he was called typically. Anyway, Alfred had suggested something he wasn’t sure about. ”What’s poker?” he asked the other nation curiously. It wasn’t something they had in his nation, and so he had no idea what it was other than some sort of game apparently. He was sure that Alfred could probably show him without too much issue, but he was curious as to what it was. 589 / Mandee and Alfred / rawrrawr [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 443 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred himself had mixed feelings on having company during his Civil War. On one hand, having company offered a distraction, much like Ivan's presence did even now. On the other hand, there was always the risk that his alter ego would come out and cause trouble. The blond was starting to recover, though he still had mental and physical scars from the war that he was fairly certain would never completely fade. He knew that talking about the scar on his stomach would always remain difficult, especially when taking into consideration how he obtained the scar in the first place. At this thought, he ran a hand over his clothed stomach. Alfred wondered if it would come up during this conversation. He wouldn't be surprised if it did, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't struggle with it. Oh well, he'd cross that bridge when and if he came to it. "I'm glad it didn't backfire too." Who knew what sort of condition Alfred would be in now if it had? Alfred nodded in agreement to Ivan's statement about the name situation. "Yes, exactly!" It also depended on how well he knew Ivan. At that point in history, Alfred couldn't say that he knew the other nation all that well. They did not interact much prior to this, and when Alfred was a colony Ivan usually interacted with Arthur instead of Alfred. The blond shifted a little in his seat, trying to get comfortable. It was a well known fact to those who knew Alfred that he had an exceptionally hard time remaining still while he was seated for long periods of time, and signs of this were already starting to show. "You've never played poker?" Alfred responded in surprise. At first Alfred thought that would put a damper on their plans...but then Alfred smiled. "It's a card game! There are a few different kinds. I'll show you how to play! First things first, though - We need to decide on if we're just going to play or if we're going to make bets." Alfred already knew which one that he preferred. The young nation loved competition, and betting took competition to the next level. Still, Ivan was his guest, and he knew that he should give Ivan some say in the matter as well. The blond headed over to a chest of drawers and opened one drawer, pulling out a deck of cards before heading back to where Ivan was seated. He started to shuffle the cards as he waited for the other nation's response.[/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Distractions were nice, but sometimes they got a little overwhelming depending what was going on in your country. If there was plague and such then even with distractions you weren’t going to exactly forget about the fact that you had the plague. Usually it was fairly obvious from a number of things, and was relatively hard to do much with. Same with other such disasters, it just made you want to do nothing, and any sort of distraction might be welcome, but it could also be very overwhelming at the same time. It was something that usually had to depend on the person and what they were up for, or at least what they thought they could handle at the moment. It was always a tricky thing to figure out, and so usually it was just better to ask the person what they wanted to do even if you were the one that was the guest. Actually, especially if you were the guest and had a rough idea what was going on with them based on either personal experience or hearing about it from gossiping nations. Yes, nations did like to gossip about one another behind backs, and so you did tend to hear some very interesting rumors when nobody thought you were actually listening. Most nations didn’t actually gossip with him, but he did usually pick up bits and pieces of information passed along from bosses, his capital, and his cities. Thus, he had heard about the Civil War Alfred was having, and was almost surprised to hear his Boss pick a side. Idly, he had wondered what his boss would do if it turned out the other side did win, and then he had another decently formidable enemy to deal with. Or well, he would leave Russia to deal with at any rate. His bosses didn’t actually fight battles of course, that was his and the peoples’ job. He even sometimes had to fight their verbal battles if neither had a mutual language they were both good at. There were a few things that you didn’t recover from completely, and those were the things that really left scars. They weren’t always from injuries they had personally received, but sometimes from disasters and things that were hard to come back from. Sure they appeared as physical injuries, but many of them were also mental scars, and sometime they just didn’t go away and were things that usually didn’t become a happy topic of conversation. ”Though, I really was curious as to what my boss would have done if it had backfired. Guess I’ll never know now.” he commented when Alfred said that he was also glad it didn’t backfire. Really, he was also interested in seeing what would have happened to Alfred if that was the case, but he wasn’t exactly going to say that out loud. He might get himself thrown out, and so he was holding his tongue when it came to that particular topic. This was one of those things that would never become a happy topic of conversation, so he’d wait to bring it up until things were less unfamiliar between them. Sure maybe he was playing it safe, but it wasn’t exactly a quick trip from one nation to the other even if they were relatively close together as opposed to some other nations. There was still the matter of crossing a body of water and making it to the other side of the land mass to be dealt with, and then he had to figure out where Alfred’s house was on top of that. Anyway, Ivan just nodded in response to Alfred agreeing with him about the name situation. There were a lot of different factors that depended on what the nation-spirits called one another. Some were more picky about it than others, and some it was odd calling them their human name when you knew nothing virtually else about them. The human names were far more about familiarity, and he didn’t exactly have that with most nations. His sisters were an exception to that, but they were a bit on the odd side certainly. Ivan watched as Alfred shifted in his seat and then heard the question of him never playing poker. ”No? I don’t believe we have that back home.” he said after a moment of pondering. He was pretty sure they didn’t, but it was possible he just didn’t know the translation for it. Though, it seemed that it didn’t matter because America was apparently going to show him how to play. He mentioned bets and Ivan pondered that. ”What would we bet? I suppose we could always bet doing shots of something maybe. Would the winner or loser do the betted shots in that case? Though, first I have to learn how to play otherwise it’s not exactly fair, da?” he commented with a slight smile. Their currency wasn’t the same, and exchange would have to be figured out mentally, and he really didn’t feel like doing that. He supposed there were probably other options, but he couldn’t particularly think of any at the moment. 856 / Mandee and Alfred / I rambled, oops [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 862 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred made a face at Ivan's next statement and folded his arms across his chest. "No, you won't." He asserted with a certain force behind his words. Ivan would never know what would have happened had the results of his Civil War turned out differently, and he wanted to keep it that way. Familiarity. That was exactly it. Nations didn't often go on a first name basis unless they were familiar with one another. It was the reason why he'd taken to calling Arthur by his nation name after the Revolution. The two were familiar with one another, but calling Arthur by his nation name was another way of asserting his independence. There was also a certain bitterness there, but Alfred wasn't one to bring that up too often. He preferred subjects that didn't leave him wanting to throw another teacup through the wall. He'd have to patch up that hole at some point...good thing it was summer. At least Arthur hadn't supported the Confederacy during the recent war. It was a gesture that meant more to Alfred than he'd let on. Alfred continued to shuffle the cards as Ivan supplied his answer about poker. "You probably haven't, then. We'll pay straight poker first - It's probably the easiest to learn. If you get the hang of it, maybe we'll play stud." He paused in his shuffling as he suddenly realized that Ivan knew next to nothing about what the hands entailed, and in order to play properly he should probably at least have an idea of how to sort out his hands. "There are different hands, each going up in value. The person who has the hand with the highest value wins. The first couple of hands are easy to remember. The lowest is one pair. That means you have two cards that are the same value - so, for example, two 8s, or two aces. The next hand is two pair, which, as the name suggests, means that you have two pairings in your hand. Three of a kind, the next one, means that you have three of the same card in your hand, rather than just a pair." After that, Alfred decided to use the cards themselves as a guide. He placed out a 2 of diamonds, 3 of hearts, 4 of clubs, 5 of hearts, and 6 of clubs. "This is a straight. It means you have five cards in numerical order. They don't have to be the same suit, though - That's something else entirely, and we'll get to that in a bit!" Alfred took away the diamond and hearts cards, leaving 4 and 6 of clubs out and adding an ace of clubs, 10 of clubs, an 3 of clubs to the table. "This is a flush. It means that all of your cards are the same suit. All of these are clubs." He swept these cards back into the deck, next placing out a 7 of spades, 7 of diamonds, and 7 of clubs, followed by a 4 of hearts and a 4 of spades. "This is a full house. It's three of a kind and a pair together in one hand. You have two cards of one value and three cards of the other." He left out the 7s and added the 7 of hearts. "Four of a kind. As you may have guessed, four of a kind means that you have all four cards in one value." He next decided to leave out the 7 of diamonds, adding a 5 of diamonds, 6 of diamonds, 8 of diamonds, and 9 of diamonds to the table. "Remember how I said a straight with cards all in the same suit was different than a regular straight? This is a straight flush. It's the second highest hand you can get in poker." He placed these five cards back in his hand, laying out an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of spades. "This is a royal flush. This is the highest hand you can get in poker." Sweeping the last of these cards into the deck, Alfred started shuffling once again. "Make sense?" He looked over at Ivan as Ivan posed the question of how they would make bets. It pleased him that Ivan was interested in making this even more of a competition as well, though he hadn't considered the point that Ivan was bringing up. The two nations did very much have different money, and while they could probably exchange it, it seemed like such an effort for a game of poker. Alfred was satisfied with Ivan's suggestion. Shots? He was up for that! "Shots it is then. I've got whisky, unless you have something else in mind?" He didn't know that Ivan brought vodka with him. Hell, Alfred had never even tried vodka. "How about the loser does the shots? Who wants to be the first to get drunk as a hillbilly in a rooster fight?" Alfred grinned, not realizing that Ivan likely never heard that slang used before.[/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Ivan just raised an eyebrow at Alfred’s reaction to his statement of being curious as to what would happen if the other side had won. ”No I suppose not, but you aren’t curious either as to how that would have impacted other nations? Maybe that’s just me. I’ve always wondered how a war within a nation’s borders would spiral to the rest of the world. Really, there are no true winners in a Civil War. In the end, every side loses in some way; it’s just a matter of who lost the least.” he said simply. Personally, he had never actually chosen a side in his own civil wars on purpose. He technically did become one of the sides, but he knew that the others weren’t really all that different. They were just different sides of him, and he was very much aware that. There were no sides; there were never really any true winners. There was just a lot of pain, and a lot of arguing with oneself. He probably shouldn’t throw too much at Alfred right now with that sort of thing, but he couldn’t really help his curiosity at times, besides he could always stop if he was asked to. As far as he was concerned this was just casual conversation that bordered on having some depth to it. Besides, he did have some sense of familiarity with what America was dealing with right at the moment. The rest of the nation though, he was not as familiar with. Then again, he wasn’t really familiar with most nations to be perfectly honest. He preferred to keep to himself in his large and cold country. Sure it wasn’t a very friendly existence, but he wasn’t exactly raised to be a friendly sort of nation. He was probably just as cold as the winter at times. Alfred started talking about the card game and he was confused as to the difference between straight poker and stud poker. ”What’s the difference between the two?” he asked other than apparently one being more difficult or something maybe? Seeing as America said that it would be once he got the hang of straight poker. Then the different hands were being explained and he tried to follow along. He would probably forget the order they went in more than likely, but he was sure that Alfred could just remind him at the end of the hand or something. It didn’t seem fundamentally difficult, and really looked more like a game of luck from what he was seeing so far. Though there was also the possibility that he was completely wrong about that and that there was some sort of strategy to it. As of right now it mostly looked like dumb luck. ”I’m probably not going to remember all of these and their order initially. You’ll probably have to remind me a few times. I imagine alcohol will not help.” he noted slightly with a vague smile. Then America asked if everything made sense and he thought about it for a moment. Really, most of it was pretty self-explanatory with there being multiple amounts of the same number, or all the numbers in a row, or all the colors. It was just the order of which was higher than which that could get a bit difficult. ”Da. It doesn’t seem too complicated for the most part.” he stated simply with another smile. It would seem that Alfred was perfectly fine with his suggestion of shots too and heard the other nation say he had whisky. ”I have vodka with me, I prefer it, but really we could do some of each.” he stated simply. Then he nodded when it was decided that the loser did the shots, and idly wondered how much it took to get the other nation drunk. Personally, he had been drinking for years, and so it took quite a bit at this point. This game could be very interesting indeed, though the rest of the statement left a confused expression on his face. ”A what in a what?” he stated simply while blinking at Alfred confused. 687 / Mandee and Alfred /Silly Russia [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 619 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred mulled over what Ivan was saying to him. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little curious, and it was evident by his facial expression. He agreed with Ivan's words, though did note that Ivan almost seemed to speak from experience. He knew little about the other nation's history, at least compared to some of the other nations that he was closest to. He knew a lot of nations had been through civil wars, though he also knew that his showed differently than Arthur's or anyone else that Arthur knew. That wasn't saying much, though. Alfred was fairly certain that Arthur didn't know Ivan all that well either. "Especially when both sides are yourself," Alfred responded with an expression that showed experience with the matter. He figured that Ivan would understand what he meant no matter how he took it. Ah yes, Ivan wouldn't know the difference between straight poker and stud poker any more than he would know the hands in the game, would he? "With straight poker, I'll deal five cards to each of us. You can discard as many as you'd like, and then I'll replace them with new ones, though we can only do this once. Then we start making our bets. In stud poker, instead of seeing all of our cards at once, some of our cards are face down. It's a little more challenging as a result." This was why Alfred thought it was best to start out with straight poker before moving on to stud poker, if they did. Alfred chuckled as Ivan admitted that alcohol might make an impact in how well he'd be able to retain the order of the poker hands. "I'll remind you the first few times we play." He continued to shuffle the cards, deeming them just about read to start dealing. He cut the deck and was about ready to start when he heard what Ivan said, a look of confusion coming across his face. "Vodka? Never heard of it before...I assume it's your alcohol?" Huh, he never would have thought that Russia would have brought some of his own alcohol with him. Alfred was definitely interested in giving it a taste! "We'll do some of each then. I'd like to give this vodka of yours a try." Alfred stated with a smile as he started to deal the cards at last. One card for Ivan, one card for him, back and forth a few times. He paused in the middle of dealing Ivan's fifth card to him. He laughed, realizing that Russia was confused about his slang. "Nevermind that. It's just a figure of speech." Alfred dealt Ivan his last card before placing his own last card in front of himself. Alfred proceeded to lift his cards at once, making sure they were shielded from his opponent. Although he was on much better terms with Ivan than he would be in a century, Ivan was still his opponent in this game. Alfred enjoyed competition - Even if it was friendly. An ace of spades, ace of clubs, three of clubs, six of spades, and nine of clubs. Not bad to start off. Alfred glanced over at Ivan. "Since I'm the dealer, you go first. You can choose to keep all of your cards or you could give a few of them up and I'll give you replacement cards. Whichever move you think is best to help you get a higher hand. After I do the same, we'll start bets." Alfred grinned, waiting for Ivan to make his first move.[/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Ivan seemed to at least get Alfred interested in what he was saying. Or at least, he did look at least slightly interested. Which meant that he wasn’t the only one interested in what could happen if another one that the one that did ended up winning. Anyway, he had to admit that he should probably get out more. He didn’t know most countries very well, but then again he also didn’t really like talking about his history. It was definitely something he liked avoiding in conversation, and was a bit wary as to how much of it could come up now that they were getting a bit more familiar. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to go into too much detail. Maybe Alfred would understand the lack of wanting to talk about it too, because he doubted the other nation wanted to go in depth about his own civil war. Hearing the statement he shrugged slightly. ”Exactly why it’s a matter of which side loses least. Fighting yourself never ends well.” Ivan stated with a light frown. Usually that ended with you bleeding all over the floor really, or there were other ways that could end he supposed, but bleeding all over the floor was how he usually ended up. Or at least had a headache and just wanted to go lie down and take a nap. They were talking about poker, a game he had never played, and Alfred had stated there were at least two different types they could play. He, naturally, had no idea what the difference was having never played. At least Alfred was going to explain though, and he listened to it. Seemed very odd to him, but he would try it. It wasn’t as if he had anything better to do now that he was here. Besides, it gave him a chance to observe the aftermath of war and how it impacted another nation. Sure, it was probably a little twisted that he wanted to do that, but he wasn’t exactly known for being a nice and normal nation as it was. Then again, what was considered a normal nation? He wasn’t entirely sure, they definitely all had their issues, some just showed them more than others he thought. He nodded at Alfred’s explanation of the difference, and wondered how that impacted play other than making it more challenging. He assumed bets were a little more difficult to accurately make without all of the cards visible. Really alcohol wouldn’t make too much difference with him, because with as much as he drank it was a bit hard for him to end up smashed at this point. He could, he just seriously doubted he would from their rounds of card games. He heard Alfred say he would give reminders for the first few rounds of play and nodded. It would seem that the other nation had never heard of vodka, and was guessing as to what it was. ”Yes indeed it is. I wonder if you’ll like it.” he said simply with a bit of a smile. It seemed that Alfred was fine with doing some of both too, which was a plus. At least they would both have their own alcohol to make things a little more comfortable for both of them. ”We can each bet our own alcohol to get an even mix?” he questioned simply. There was no way of saying which one could be worth more points unless one was a higher concentration than the other, so this was easier. ”I’ll go get it real quick.” he stated before getting up and going out to grab a bag. It had assorted things in it like clothes, but it also had the alcohol in it. He opened up the bag and pulled out two bottles before setting them next to him. He kind of counted on them not betting the first round, but now he at least was ready for when they did start the betting. Though they would need shot glasses, and to set an amount for how much they had. He had brushed off the statement being a figure of speech and then lifted the cards he had been dealt. Alfred said he was first and looking at the hand of three nines and two threes he decided he should probably keep that. ”I think I’m going to keep all my cards this time.” he said with a slight smile. From what he could remember, that was actually a pretty high hand, and so he was perfectly fine with keeping it at the moment. ”I think we need shot glasses if we’re doing bets.” he said simply. 778 / Mandee and Alfred /Boom Full House [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 466 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;]Alfred nodded to Ivan's statement. He agreed - There was still a lot of recovery to do, even though the results turned out the best that Alfred could have hoped for. He rubbed at his stomach once more, hand tracing over the area he knew his scar lay. With Alfred, the impact of alcohol on him depended upon on the type of alcohol he drank. He could handle beers and wines with ease. Whiskey was up there on that list as well, one of the more popular drinks within his borders. Vodka, though, he'd never heard of. That only piqued his interest more. He'd definitely have to try Ivan's vodka and compare it to whiskey. Alfred smiled at Ivan's suggestion. "That sounds like our best bet." When Ivan indicated that he was going to grab his vodka, Alfred moved to his feet as well. "I'll go grab some whiskey." He returned quickly with two bottles. When Ivan returned with the bottles of vodka, the younger nation eyed the clear liquid within. A look of sharp surprise came across Alfred's face as Ivan mentioned that he would keep his cards. Being able to bluff was an important part of poker, but such confidence so early in the game caught Alfred off guard. Was Ivan making a rookie mistake? Was he attempting to bluff? Or was it possible that he really did have a good hand? Alfred wasn't expecting this so early on. Regardless, the young nation decided to make his move. He decided to keep the two aces in his hand and discarded the other three cards. "I'm going to draw three new cards," He told Ivan, just to make sure that the other nation was following what he was doing. He was still teaching Ivan how to play, after all, and therefore it seemed important to make sure that Ivan was following everything that was happening. Alfred then proceeded to draw three more cards, placing them into his hand and giving them a look-over. A jack of hearts, a 7 of spades, and a 7 of clubs. Not an altogether bad hand - He had two pair, ace high. He looked up from his cards when Ivan mentioned needing shot glasses, and he rose to his feet once more. From there, he retrieved two shot glasses from across the room and placed them on the table near the bottles of liquor. "One shot glass for each of us." Alfred stated with a smile before looking down at his cards. "Do you want to bet on this hand or no, since it's our first game?" Since it would be Ivan's turn to place a bet anyway, he decided to leave the decision to the other. [/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 415px; background-color: #4E387E; border-left: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-bottom: inset 3px #FFFFFF; border-right: inset 3px #FFFFFF; -moz-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; border-radius: 200px 200px 0px 0px; true] As days fade, and nights grow And we go cold Ivan went to grab vodka, and it would seem that Alfred had gone to grab whiskey. They both returned with their respective drinks and he pondered if they would end up simply buzzed or absolutely smashed. Though, that probably depended far more on the other nation’s alcohol tolerance, because his was rather high at this point. Drinking for centuries will do that to a nation, and besides they already had a slightly heightened tolerance due to what they were. Still though, he was completely certain the other nation hadn’t been drinking as long as him, and thus wondered if he had a tolerance of any sort at this point. Well, they’d certainly find out if Alfred lost several hands, and he was almost looking forward to seeing the other nation vaguely drunk. It could be very amusing, and hey he might talk more about things Ivan wanted to know in that case. He was hoping for things to become more amusing in that case, and wondered where it would go from there. The older nation was definitely curious at times, especially when it came to other nations in civil wars and when they started drinking. Especially seeing as some got rather amusing when they got tipsy. Anyway, he actually had a rather good hand and nodded when Alfred said he was going to draw three new ones. He imagined that was probably typical, and his hand was probably just a fluke. Either that, or he was just very lucky when it came to games. Though, he did suppose the fact that he had a tendency to cast curses on things could have had something to do with it too. Regardless, he did actually have a good hand, and was waiting on Alfred for what to do next. Were they going to do bets this hand? Sure, he was perfectly fine with that and hell even if he lost the hand he didn’t really mind drinking certainly. Thus, he mentioned that they would probably need shot glasses and Alfred went to grab one for each of them. He opened the bottle of vodka next to him and poured one shot. ”I’m up for betting, but then again if I lose it’s an excuse to drink so why not?” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. ”You up for it?” he asked with a slight smile at the other nation. Hey, why not no harm done as far as he was concerned. There was a number of hands played, and yes Ivan had lost quite a few being that he was nicely buzzed. He hadn’t lost all of them though naturally, even though he didn’t know how to play all that well. Mostly it was a game of chance and luck. Sometimes you did alright and other times you didn’t do so well. Thus he had done shots and was feeling the buzz. ”So, how drunk are we planning on getting?” he asked looking over at the bottles of alcohol they were using for this game. If he was being honest, he was a little bored with poker, and would rather move onto something else, but figured he could leave that up to Alfred. He was just going to leave the question a bit open ended as to what they could do when they decided they were drunk enough. It really did depend on how drunk they were going to be getting though and so he would hedge his response on the answer to that question. 585 / Mandee and Alfred /tiem skip. [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: url('http://i.imgur.com/ajvTt.jpg'); width: 425px;][style=background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #cacaca; padding-left: 10px;]but no one else ever can see[/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 7px;][/style][style=float: right; background-color: #494949; opacity: 0.8; padding: 10px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; color: #cacaca; text-align: justify; width: 97px; margin-top: 125px; margin-right: -115px;]tagged;; Ivan/Cal words;; 453 notes;; Just after the Civil War. credits;; template by jetplane of btn[/style] [style=font-family: tahoma; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; margin-right: 110px;] Watching as Ivan poured vodka into a shot glass, Alfred poured whiskey into the other. If Ivan wanted to jump right into bets, he was perfectly fine with that. Already, Ivan was drawing Alfred's competitive side to the forefront. "Sure am." Alfred stated with a small smile, pushing the shot of whiskey forward. Alfred was understandably surprised at Ivan's luck when they revealed their cards at the end of their first game. Shrugging, Alfred reached for the shot of clear alcohol. He lifted the glass to his lips and threw it back at once, clearly suspecting it to be similar to the liquors he was used to drinking. Almost instantly, however, it became clear that vodka had some distinct differences from whiskey. The younger nation very nearly spit out the contents of his mouth. It was only out of sheer willpower that he was able to keep the vodka within his mouth. He swallowed in one gulp before setting the glass back down on the table. As much as the vodka burned going down, Alfred knew that he had to keep going. This was as much a card game as a drinking contest, and Alfred wanted to show that he could hold his own. After several games, the shots were taking their toll on Alfred. He was not severely drunk, though the alcohol was indeed effecting Alfred more than it was Ivan. If Ivan had a buzz, Alfred was in the next stage. While he wasn't exactly a lightweight (at least in comparison to some others), consideration did need to be made for the differences in Alfred and Ivan's physical ages, as well as their general experience with alcohol. This was Alfred's first time trying vodka, whereas Ivan had likely been drinking it for centuries. It made a difference. When Ivan asked him how drunk they were planning on getting, a small grin played across Alfred's flushed face. "As drunk as a hillbilly in a rooster fight!" He repeated his statement from earlier, before bursting into laughter at his own joke. It took him a couple of moments before he was able to calm himself to the point where he could talk once more. Even though, a few chuckles still escaped him occasionally. He couldn't help it. It was funny! Alfred was willing to admit that he was buzzed based on this, but wasn't about to admit that he'd perhaps gone a little past buzzed. "You wanna keep playing or you wanna do somethin' else? Yer the guest, it's up to you!" Alfred stated with a friendly smile. He'd be up for just about anything at this point. [/style]