Pulling Through [Penny]

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] To say that conditions weren't tip-top was the understatement of the century. It didn't help that they were still recovering from the Battle of White Marsh as they relocated to Valley Forge. Less than half of the men the army had shoes, Alfred amongst those. He'd lent his shoes to another soldier, who was surely in more need of them than he was. By the time they arrived, Alfred's feet were bloody from the journey, as were many others. Unfortunately, their arrival brought little reprieve. There were shortages of food, and the weather combined with such close quarters created an environment ripe for disease. Alfred was not susceptible to these diseases in the regular fashion. He could not become ill simply from being around those who were ill, and both he and General Washington were aware of this. He was not immune from illness though. As conditions in the camp grew worse, Alfred's condition grew worse. It was timely enough that it could be easily passed off as one of the illnesses being spread around, though Washington and Alfred knew differently. They knew that, as a nation, Alfred was suffering because his men were suffering, not because he'd caught anything himself. The symptoms he displayed reflected this. When he was examined, a diagnosis could not be pinpointed, for Alfred showed symptoms of several different illnesses at once. His condition would go back and forth as well - Some days he would feel better than others. There were times where he would show almost no sign of illness whatsoever, and other times where he would be bedridden. Alfred was feeling somewhat better the day the day that General Washington called him to his headquarters to share with him the news that Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian military officer who would be aiding in the training of the soldiers at Valley Forge. The news brought a smile to Alfred's face, and he wanted to set out to thank Steuben personally. Washington stopped him, however, informing him that he would formally meet Steuben the next day, and that his nation had made the journey as well. Alfred could only assume that to mean Prussia. Having never met the other nation prior, Alfred's interest was piqued even more. It was unfortunate that he had to wait (Alfred never had been all that good with waiting), but the wait did mean that he could share the news with someone else he thought would be thrilled to hear it. He bid his farewell to Washington before heading back out into the cold. Alfred held his hands close to himself in an effort to keep warm. He tried to avoid the patches of snow on the ground with his bare feet (though fortunately they'd healed up in the three months that passed since the army arrived at Valley Forge). Halfway to his destination, a particularly cold breeze blew. Alfred gasped in surprise at the chill against his skin. The sudden influx of cold air into his lungs induced a coughing fit. Alfred leaned against the side of a nearby cabin, covering his mouth as he waited for the fit to subside. When it finally did, Alfred removed his hand only to discover that his hands were tinged red with spots of his own blood. Sighing, Alfred wiped the blood off on his uniform and continued on his journey, still coughing occasionally as he walked. After what seemed like much longer than it should have, Alfred reached the door of the cabin that he was looking for. He proceeded to knock, calling out to the person he knew was within. "Hey Pe-eter. It's Alfred. Open the door, I have good news from General Washington!" credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; 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] And all the people hurried fast, real fast And no one ever smiled Conditions kind of sucked to be perfectly honest, and she knew that. They were at Valley Forge, and things really hadn’t improved all that much. Most of them didn’t even have shoes of all things. Really, something so silly that you hardly even thought about was becoming a luxury as a soldier. Someone really should try and fix that, after all shoes were kind of important in the conditions such as theirs where they could get frostbite from walking around without shoes on. Could also get a number of diseases from it if your feet had open sores on them and they got infected. In which case, you might not even have any feet anymore because they would have to cut them off. Which, then, the soldier would be sent home being that it was a little hard to fight for your freedom without feet. If you couldn’t walk you were a sitting target after all. Definitely a morbid thought there, and the person would have to live with no feet for the rest of their life, always needing help of some sort due to the inability to really walk at all. Well, at least, she didn’t think they would be able to walk without feet, though she did suppose it might be possible to learn. Alright, this train of thought was getting morbid and gross, and so she tried to start thinking about something else. Though really how she got on that topic to begin with was because she was sick and didn’t want to think about how she had an on and off fever and coughing fits because of the various illnesses going around through the various camps in PA. Clearly the conditions weren’t improving much either seeing as she had been like this for a while now with no show of improvement. Sure, she could still fight, and Washington along with Alfred knew what was wrong with her wasn’t because she was actually able to get sick. She was aware Alfred was having the same problem as she, and kind of just wanted the disease to clear up already. The female state was tired of having to stop and hack up a lung after walking for only a little while. After all, she was vaguely athletic and so used to be able to walk much father without being winded, and found it annoying that she often had to stop. That would be a pain on the battlefield too she imagined. Today happened to be a day where she did have a bit more of a fever, and planned on basically staying fairly close to her bed and hoping it would return to the usual light fever she had grown used to over the time she had spent at Valley Forge. Hearing a knock she eyed the door from her cot before hearing that it was Alfred. Well, now she definitely had to get up, seeing as it was pretty clear he was looking for her. Yes, she had adopted the name Peter for now, being that there was no male version of Penelope that she knew of, and she couldn’t go around with the name Penelope when she had to pretend to be a boy. Wrapping the blanket around her uniform she trudged over to the door and opened it. He had news from General Washington that was good? Well, certainly that was interesting. ”Come on in Alfred, I know you’re sicker than I am, and while it probably won’t get worse hanging outside will not help much.” she stated with a slight sniffle and a bit of a smile at him. There was one good thing about having some sort of illness being that it made her voice sound far less girly at least. Once he was in she shut the door behind him and then plopped herself back on her cot while patting a seat beside her for him to come sit down and relax rather than standing and possibly getting dizzy because of a spike in fever or something. ”So, what’s the news?” she asked him curiously. She really was curious about what sort of news he might have from their General. 698/ tag: Mandee and Alfred / notes: Valley Forge: why did I make the first paragraph so morbid? XD [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] Alfred stood in front of the door, holding his arms close to his body in an effort to keep warm. The fact that it was February made for blistery conditions, and on top of that Alfred was fairly certain he had chills from his extended illness. When the denizen of the cabin opened the door, Alfred smiled. At least she looked as though she were in a condition to talk. The nation looked Penny (going by Peter while in the Continental Army) over, trying to get an idea as to her condition. He knew she was doing almost as bad as he was, but he doubted that her symptoms were exactly the same as his. Clearly she was feeling chilly as well, judging by the blanket as she opened the door. "How are you feeling?" He asked her out of curiosity, stepping inside when Penny invited him in. "Thanks," the nation took a seat almost immediately, still feeling dizzy from the coughing fit that seized him previously. As he breathed, a slight rasping noise came from his chest. Staying outside would not make his illness worse (and the only thing that would truly make it better would be improved conditions at camp - or moving from the camp entirely, which was not feasible during this time of year). Nevertheless, the wind bearing down on him wasn't exactly pleasant, and therefore he was pleased to be shielded from it. Alfred watched as Penny took a seat as well, questioning him almost immediately on the announcement that he made. Now that the door was closed, they could get down to talking. "General Washington called me to his headquarters today." Alfred informed her. "He told me that a man by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrived earlier. He's a Prussian military official." Alfred knew she'd ask who Steuben was (as he'd asked himself), and therefore decided to clear things up before she even had to pose the question. "He is here to help with training." Alfred still wasn't sure what to make of that, but figured that any man offering to help with the training of his men was an ally indeed. The blond paused to take a breath as he felt an almost constricting sensation in his chest. He was able to prevent the coughing fit he thought he felt brewing in his chest - For now. "I was also informed that his nation was accompanying him. I'm pretty certain that means Prussia." A small smile came across Alfred's face at this point. Another nation meant another possible ally, and Alfred would certainly accept the help of any nations willing to aid in his war. "Between this and France's recognition of me as an independent nation earlier in the month, I would say things are looking up, wouldn't you?" For the first time in a few months, Alfred felt a renewed surge of hope, and he wanted to share that with as many as he could. The smile faded a little as a few more particularly rough coughs seized him, his hand flying to his mouth immediately. "I'll be happy when we move out of this area..." He spoke between coughs. He doubted he was the only one. credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; 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] And all the people hurried fast, real fast And no one ever smiled Penny opened the door to find her country standing in the cold. Why hadn’t he even brought a blanket or something so that he was at least slightly sheltered from the wind? Ah well, it didn’t matter. She could always share if he wanted to. The state had absolutely no issue with cuddling for warmth with any of the other states or her country. It was just more of a matter of if they would let her. Her face was a bit flushed from a fever starting to go up again, but otherwise she didn’t look too bad actually. Her symptoms were a bit different than Alfred’s, but they did share a few such as a fever at times, chills and coughs that made her ribs hurt. At the present though, her cough was mostly absent, and she was rather glad for that. She was pretty sure she felt bruised from all the coughing as it was, and thus did not miss it in the slightest. Hearing his question she shrugged a bit. ”Today? Not horrific, though my fever is going back up again I think.” she said with a sigh. ”You?” she asked him in return. Once they were seated she curled her legs up next to her and leaned her cheek against his shoulder. Maybe she would stay warmer if she curled up against him and borrowed some of his body heat. Then she had asked about what the news was and listened when he stated that General Washington had called him to headquarters to talk to him. Well, that was interesting, and she continued to listen as he told her about someone coming to train the troops. That was, definitely good news because training was needed. There really was no way they would win without some idea of what they were doing. ”Training certainly can’t make things worse; hopefully it helps us win this war.” she said. The girl wanted to stop being sick and go back to their lives and just be content. She missed just hanging out with the other states, and not having to fight or be sick all the time. Then she heard that the official’s nation was coming with him. She was rather curious as to why, but figured that if Alfred knew why, then he would have explained already. ”I wonder if he’s mad at England for something too.” she said idly. It was a curious thought, or maybe Prussia just wanted to poke in for his own amusement. Either was possible she supposed, and maybe she would get a chance to ask him if she met him when he arrived. Hearing Alfred say that between that news, and the fact that France had recognized them as independent things were looking up, she smiled slightly. ”Things certainly aren’t looking down.” she said with a smile at him. Then he started coughing and the state frowned slightly. She patted his shoulder slightly while he coughed and sighed. ”Same, I’m tired of being sick all the time.” she said with a sigh. It really was a pain, and she hated getting winded by just walking to another cabin. It was getting old rather fast she had to admit. ”Cold?” she asked him as she offered part of the blanket to him with a slight smile. 552/ tag: Mandee and Alfred / notes: Valley Forge: needs cuddles. :3 [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] Alfred really hadn't thought things through before heading over. If he had, he probably would have grabbed a blanket. His army uniform did an alright job of blocking some of the cold air, but not all. It wasn't as though his uniform was in tip top condition. It also didn't help matters that Alfred was still ill. He was in an almost constant state of fever, and though his was mild at that particular moment, it was still there. Fevers weren't exactly known for aiding anyone in thinking clearly. Speaking of fevers, Alfred frowned when he heard that Penny's was going back up. "Sorry to hear that. We're not too far from spring now...only a month or two to go." It depended on the weather for the year, but the fact that they were in February meant that they'd already made it through a good chunk of the winter. He reached out to touch Penny's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze, hoping he'd held back enough. He smiled a little when she moved closer to him. He put an arm around her shoulder, feeling her forehead with his hand. It was warm, warmer than it should have been, though not so hot that he felt it needed to be addressed straight away. He was still concerned, though, and would keep an eye on Penny as long as he was here for any signs she was getting worse. "That's what I hope too." He left his arm where it was, though retrieved his hand away from her forehead. "Do you plan on participating in the training? I do." He didn't know whether he'd be trained with his men or Prussia himself would train him - Perhaps that was why Prussia had tagged along. Penny was apparently wondering along those same lines. "He might be. He's got a fair few enemies, myself included," Alfred could not help but chuckle at this. The more enemies England had, the better for him. It meant that other nations would be more sympathetic toward his goal of breaking away from England, and more likely to offer him aid. Alfred wanted to show that he was a force to be reckoned with as well, but he would not underestimate the value of having help. He greatly appreciated those who'd already offered it. "It could also be that he wants to meet me." Alfred considered. Now that he'd declared his independence, he noticed that he was meeting a lot more nations one on one. Before, he usually only saw them from a distance, if at all. Arthur handled his affairs as a colony. Now he handled his own. That meant that there would surely be more meetings to come. Alfred nodded in agreement to Penny's sentiment. When she offered him a part of her blanket, he smiled and accepted her offer. "Thanks." He wrapped himself in part of the blanket, glancing over to make sure that Penny still had enough of the blanket for herself. "I'm supposed to meet both of them tomorrow." The young nation added, as somewhat of an afterthought. credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; 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] And all the people hurried fast, real fast And no one ever smiled Penny was glad she had decided to stay in her cabin today, one because it was cold outside, and two because it meant that Alfred hadn’t been stuck walking back after finding she wasn’t there. Anyway, she saw him frown when she spoke about her fever going up. Really, she wasn’t all that worried about it. Her fever had been going up and down for a while now. Some days were super bad and she had a pile of other symptoms, but then there were days like today where it was only the fever. She was far more concerned about the days where her fever was high and she had other symptoms than ones like today. ”It’s a regular occurrence, I’m just glad my other symptoms are absent for the time being.” she said simply with a slight shrug. She felt a squeeze on her shoulder and smiled at him a bit and she leaned against him. He was comfy, or well he was comfier than a wall certainly which was her other option to lean against. She felt his hand against her forehead, and wondered how warm she actually was. If she was going by how cold she was, then she was probably decently warm. She’d probably get worse as the day went on, but then maybe it would go down tomorrow and she would maybe have other symptoms. His question made her shrug a bit. ”I’ll try, though I’ve been getting winded pretty easily recently. Maybe it’ll fall on a good day though and I won’t have much trouble.” she said with a sigh. It was true, she really was having a hard time even walking long distances without feeling out of breath and her lungs starting to hurt. Ah well, she would just hope for the best and play it day to day. ”I suppose the longer you’re around the more time to gain enemies?” she mused with a slight smile. It also meant that Arthur could have a number of allies who might get involved if he asked them. There was a flipside to it of course, but she wasn’t going to bring that up. Alfred was in high spirits it seemed, and she didn’t want to put any downsides on it. Besides, another country was coming to help, though the girl wasn’t sure when. Maybe Alfred would say in a few minutes though, and thus she wouldn’t ask quite yet. The statement about him possibly wanting to meet Alfred brought up a good point. ”It’s possible. I imagine some nations get curious when others get formed.” she said with a light smile at him. She wondered if she would meet some of the nations now too, but wasn’t really counting on it. After all, she was a state, and affairs were usually dealt with on a national level. Then she offered him part of the blanket and he seemed to be grateful for it. So, she was right and he was cold. She scooted as close as possible so that the blanket would cover them more easily. ”Tomorrow? When is training going to start?” she asked him simply with a slight smile. After all, she would like to know in advance so she could figure out if she was feeling alright when she woke up that morning. 552/ tag: Mandee and Alfred / notes: Valley Forge: yeh cuddles [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] Alfred was having a good day when it came to his symptoms as well. Other than a mild fever and a cough, he wasn't doing too badly. It mostly depended on what was going around the camp at the time. If Alfred had to guess, pneumonia was the main illness going around at that point in time. He was thankful that his fever was not worse, and that he was not suffering any digestive symptoms for the time being. Those were the worst days. "I'm glad too. Hopefully your fever'll break soon too." Alfred let out a few more coughs after this. Perhaps the worst part of an illness like theirs was knowing that there was really relatively little that they could do. He could attempt to clear his lungs as much as he wanted, but the illness would not fade until the instances of pneumonia around the camp began to dwindle. And then who knew whether they'd get a break, or a new illness would swoop in to take it's place? "I have been too." As if she couldn't tell already by his coughing. Penny's statement made him consider that he might not be in the condition to train, but he quickly pushed that aside. Unless he was delirious with fever or otherwise incapacitated, he would show up. He wanted to win this war, after all, and he couldn't do that by just sitting around! He needed to prove himself against Arthur. Alfred nodded. "That's what I was thinking." He did notice that he was interacting with more nations now that he'd declared his independence. Before, if he met nations other than Arthur (and later Matthew), he'd be introduced to them but not expected to participate in any of the discussions. Now that Alfred was an independent nation (and recognized as such by Francis), Alfred was doing his own talking. It was a little nerve wracking, yet exciting at the same time. Alfred was grateful for the blanket. He was indeed chilly, not aided by the fact that he had chills from his mild fever. He just hoped that he'd continue on the path toward feeling better. At the very least, he wanted to be able to attend the meeting with Steuben and Prussia the next day. "Yes, tomorrow," he responded to Penny. "I'm not sure when training is going to start. I assume soon, though." Alfred shifted a little under the blanket, trying to get comfortable and as warm as he could without disturbing Penny at the same time. He took a few raspy breaths. "Would be nice if my lungs cleared out by then." However, given the conditions of Alfred's illness, who knew if that would happen? credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; 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] And all the people hurried fast, real fast And no one ever smiled All of the illnesses going around camp really sucked, why were there no nice diseases? Well, then she supposed they wouldn’t be diseases, but she did wish there was a way to make them just go away. Unfortunately nothing like that would probably work for her, but if it worked on everyone else then her symptoms would go away as well. So thus she just kind of had to deal with it. As she cuddled against his shoulder she sighed slightly. ”I doubt it will completely break until we move camp, but hopefully it’ll go back to hovering on the low side rather than what it’s at now.” she said with a frown and could both feel and hear him coughing next to her. She sighed a bit and cuddled against side with one of her arms giving a squeeze around his waist. Right now she felt like curling up with Alfred and taking a nap until her fever decided to go back down a bit, but she doubted that would happen. Besides, they had things to talk about anyway. She did give a slight yawn though before he started talking again and it was him giving a reply to something she had stated. ”Getting winded easily is annoying.” she stated with a sigh. Yes, she wanted to do training, but if her fever and coughing were making her unable to she would have to accept that and sit out. Yes, she had a war to help win, but there was no point in training if you were half delirious. If that was the case then chances were you weren’t going to remember anything you learned anyway. It would be better to just stay home and get some rest even if it didn’t really help nation spirits recover, but it did feel like it did at times. Penelope smiled at Alfred as they discussed why Prussia could be coming. The girl doubted she would ever meet as many nations as Alfred would, but maybe she’d meet a few here and there. Penny liked meeting people really, and so she’d be interested to see if she did. Though really it didn’t matter, it was far more important for Alfred to make connections with other nations than her doing so, but still the girl did like meeting other people, and kind of assumed she would meet Prussia if he was coming here. Alfred was a warm body for her to curl up against and their heat would be kept better with a blanket surrounding them. Tomorrow was fast considering that Alfred had only found out today. ”I guess they decided to not give much of a heads up?” she said with a light smile at him. It would seem that Alfred didn’t know when training was though, but was assuming it would be soon. ”I imagine if they’re coming now it’s going to be relatively soon. Though, maybe they’ll wait a little bit until it starts feeling more like spring. It probably depends on a few things.” Penny said with a slight smile. He commented on it being nice if his lungs cleared out by then and she had to agree. ”My lungs hurt.” she said with a frown. 537/ tag: Mandee and Alfred / notes: Valley Forge [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] Alfred pulled the blanket a little closer to his body, though made sure he did not jostle it off of Penny in any way as he did so. "Me too." At the very least, he did not want to dip into the worse end of things again. He wasn't feeling tip-top, but he also wasn't feeling as horrible as he had during early points in the season. He shivered a little under the blanket, much warmer than he felt before yet still a little chilly. He could not tell if it had to do with the winter temperatures or his own illness. Perhaps it was even a mixture of both. The blanket offered a little help, so there was that at least. The cabin also offered shelter from the cold breeze that sent Alfred coughing in the first place on his way over, and a little heat of it's own. Alfred shook his head at Penny's question. "Not at all. I don't think even General Washington knew when he was going to arrive. Benjamin sent a note along with Steuben introducing him from what I was told. I'm pretty sure Steuben does not speak much English, if any..." Which made Alfred wonder how Steuben was going to train his men, if he couldn't communicate with them...that could be interesting. "Might be nice if they waited until it warmed up a little," Alfred admitted, shivering a little as he was reminded of the bleary conditions outside. "But if we start now it gives us more time to train." The young nation frowned when Penny stated that her lungs hurt. "Mine do too," he agreed with her once more. "Still, I'd rather have this than some of the other symptoms I've had during our stay here." A cough and a fever weren't exactly fun, but they still beat a fever and digestive issues by a landslide. Smiling, he let loose a few chuckles. "I think the general prefers it that way too." His chuckles ended abruptly when his figure was wracked by several more coughs. credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 400px; background-color: #347235; 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] And all the people hurried fast, real fast And no one ever smiled Penny was glad that he wasn’t just stealing the blanket or anything while sharing it. That would have been rude, and while she could probably just crawl into his lap and steal parts of it back she didn’t want to have to resort to that. Though, really she could crawl into his lap anyway to be warmer. She doubted he would mind too much. As long as her symptoms stayed in the pneumonia range rather than other things she was fine with it. Pneumonia sucked, but there were other ones that sucked far more. Actually, she decided to scoot into his lap and cuddle into Alfred’s shoulder a bit. It would probably keep both of them warmer anyway. ”Is this fine?” she asked him as she leaned against his shoulder with a smile. Then she heard that nobody knew he was coming, and that Benjamin Franklin had just sent him over with a note. Well, that was an interesting strategy she supposed. Then he said that Steuben probably didn’t speak English. That, could either make things super interesting or super confusing. ”Maybe he’ll just shout at us in German until we do what he wants?” she mused with a shrug. It was entirely possible, but she was kind of hoping it wouldn’t go like that. Hearing the options of waiting until it was warmer, or having more time to train she pondered. ”It’s hard to say which would be a better option.” she noted idly with a slight frown. If they waited until it was warmer there was an obvious plus of them being able to move and maybe be less sick for the training. Starting now though, would also have an advantage as it meant more time to train. The more time you had to train the better you would get obviously. Though, really how good would training go with everyone sick right now? It really was a toss-up, and she wondered what the decision would be. Probably would be decided tomorrow, and hoped that Alfred would be keeping her in the loop. Well, he probably would, it was just a matter of if he was feeling well enough to wander over here and tell her after the meeting, or if she would have to wait a bit longer to hear. The girl was curious, but she could wait a bit of time to hear it from Alfred. Though, maybe rumors would reach her before he did. That was fine with her too; it was just a matter of finding out from someone. She saw him frown at her comment and sighed slightly before giving him a bit of a hug when he stated that his hurt too. All the coughing was bound to make them hurt after all. Though, she definitely had to agree about other symptoms. Some of them were super bad, and in comparison these weren’t horrific. They just made her rather lethargic which was not good for training. ”I’m sure he does.” she said with a smile at him. 504/ tag: Mandee and Alfred / notes: Valley Forge: running out of ideas XD [/style][style=display: none;]made by ashkir at rpg-directory.com

[atrb=border,0,btable][atrb=style,width: 380px; padding: 20 0 20 20;][atrb=style, background: url(http://i51.tinypic.com/25qr9qp.jpg); ,btable][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=background-color: #ffffff; padding: 25px; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #222222; text-align: justify;] While Alfred was a bit surprised to suddenly find Penny leaning into his lap, he couldn't say that he minded. It helped to warm him as much as it helped to warm her. "Of course it's fine. Feels kinda nice, actually." Alfred stated with a chuckle. "It's going to be kind of hard to follow his orders if he's screaming at us in a language we don't understand though." Hopefully Steuben knew some English - Or, if he didn't, he had someone who could translate. He and Prussia would be able to communicate, at the very least, so if worse came to worse they'd hopefully be able to translate that way? The human soldiers did not have the same advantage as he did being a nation, however... Alfred found himself wondering what Prussia would be like. Prussia was one of the few nations that Arthur had little to say on. He hated to have to rely on England's testimony, but it was sadly all he had to go on at that point. He was newly independent, rarely interacting with other nations without Arthur's presence prior to this. France's recognition of his independence and offer to aid him in his fight to secure it was the first such occasion he'd interacted with another nation (besides the one he was fighting against in the first place) as an independent one. Prussia would only be the second. He just hoped that it went as well as it had with France! "I know it is." Alfred breathed out with a small sigh. He actually intended to inform Penny of the proceedings after the meeting. Provided he wasn't stopped by others, he would head to Penny's cabin straight afterward and inform her of what happened. She was one of the few people at Valley Forge he could carry on such a conversation with - The other being George Washington himself. She did not need to worry about gathering her information from rumors at all. That was, of course, also assuming that he'd feel well enough to make the trek from the meeting to Penny's cabin, but he tried to think positive. When Penny offered him a hug, Alfred was quick to hug her back. He knew that she was suffering as well, and disliked seeing her in the condition that she was in. Soon, though. Soon they'd be back on their way. "Don't worry, we'll be back up and fighting before you know it." He stated with a smile, hoping that his words had the intended effect. The worst of the dreary weather conditions at camp were behind them, Alfred felt. credit `` KONYA☆[/style]

[atrb=width,110px][atrb=style,padding: 20 20 20 0;][atrb=cellpadding,0][atrb=cellspacing,0][style=margin-left: -2px; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px; font-weight: 100; color: #eeeeee; font-family: helvetica neue; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 25px; line-height: 20px; text-transform: uppercase;]THEN ONE DAY THUNDER STRUCK[/style] [style=margin-left: -2px; text-align: center; background-color: #a23f2e; padding: 15px;][/style]