what a thrill it will be

[vytis]

Who: Lithuania and Poland, open to anyone else participating in the Doll in the Dungeon mission
What: Lithuania and Poland decide to work together to go find the lost doll. Hopefully a monster didn't really eat it, because that would be kind of unsanitary.
When: late morning of the 15th
Where: Castle Dyspros
Rating: PG-13

The lobby of Castle Dyspros seemed eerier to Lithuania now that it was empty except for himself and Poland; the sharp echo of their footsteps and the way the light filtered in through the windows had him a bit on edge. Knowing they were stepping willingly into a castle apparently full of monsters didn't lighten the mood any, either. Still, he had a weapon now--not the quality sword he would have preferred, but better than trying to beat something to death with his fists. And, really...

"If a child threw the doll into the castle, it can't have been that far inside, right?"

Comments

[notyetlost]

Poland is much more relaxed by comparison. He's played enough videogames that he's confident he can best any piddly monster. The first missions were always easy! He's yet to fully appreciate the difference between grinding a controller and actually being back in combat.

"You probably should have asked or something. Isn't this place like, kinda huge? If it's not we're totally going to be looking for. Ever."

[vytis]

"I think we'd stop looking long before we got anywhere near searching forever," Lithuania said, crossing the lobby and stopping before the far door. It seemed a little more ominous to him than it did a few days ago, when he'd just been trying to find some way out. He paused, looking back at Poland to make sure he hadn't wandered off to some other corner of the lobby before opening the door and walking inside.

There wasn't anything unexpected beyond the door, at least for the moment--an abandoned castle hallway, with a window at the far end and a few doors they could look through. It looks like it might have been quite the ornate castle, long ago. The doll obviously wasn't in the hallway itself.

"Should we start with the closest door, then?"

[notyetlost]

"Yeah but like. I seriously want the candy though? So if not forever we can at least look for three-ever." Poland replied back, following Lithuania inside.

He looked around the hallway as well, his lips pursed at the obvious lack of dolls lying around. "Figures. That'd be way too easy."

Poland studied the new doors for a moment before helpfully offering, "Or we can do eeny meeny miny moe!"

[vytis]

"Let's at least try to go about this in an orderly manner," Lithuania said--though even he realized he was acting as if this were some sort of especially large house he had to clean or pile of paperwork to get through. Maybe he was a bit out of practice for this sort of thing.

Still, he opened the nearest door before Poland could start coming up with any more complicated methods of selecting where they go. The first thing his eyes were drawn to is the tree growing out of the ground, its roots having cracked through the stone of the floor and its canopy pressing up against a windowpane. The second thing he noticed was a flash of white feathers amid the leaves. A bird living in here wasn't really of much note, though.

"Let's check in here first." Lithuania stepped inside.

[notyetlost]

Poland rolled his eyes, "Boring." He'd expected Lithuania's answer to be the dullest option possible. He didn't bother objecting any further and followed Lithuania inside.

"Oh!" Poland smiled as his eyes rested on the bird, "Liet check it out! It's so pretty!" After a long moment, Poland's smile turned mischievous, "Lets like totally catch it!"

[vytis]

Lithuania, having turned away from the tree to look for the doll, sighs as he turns again. "I'm sure the bird is happier here--eh?"

Lithuania took a step back, instinctively but kind of embarrassingly as he realized that bird was kind of big, actually, and it seemed to be diving straight for them.

"I don't think that thing's friendly!"

[notyetlost]

Poland leaned into Lithuania, raising an eyebrow before asking, "So. Um. Should we... run or something?"

[vytis]

Lithuania almost agreed with Poland--but then he remembered they'd gone into a castle with monsters on purpose, they were looking for a doll, and he had a sword.

Making a mental note to be really embarrassed later, Lithuania drew his sword and just barely managed to keep the thing from clawing either of them--though it had a grip on it, and Lithuania found himself having to fight the bird just to pull his sword back.

"It's just one bird, right?" Granted, a bigger, more vicious bird than expected, but still...

[notyetlost]

"W-woah!" Poland quickly slid behind Lithuania while he attempted to ward off the monster. The sudden possibility of his face actually being clawed off his head seemed to snap Poland out of his overly casual attitude at the very least.

Poland tightened his handle on his spear, swinging it at the bird with little to no finesse. It'd been a while since he'd used one. A long while. A long long long while. "A-ah-- totally huge and kind of super vicious bird?"

[vytis]

Lithuania ducked a little to avoid getting smacked in the head with Poland's spear, then stumbled as the bird released its grip on Lithuania's sword. More things to add to that embarrassment checklist.

"One bird. And don't use your spear like a bat!"

Though Poland had actually struck the bird, at least. Lithuania managed to cut through one of its talons a moment later--and the splattering of blood was its own kick to the head of a reminder that they really should be serious about this.

[notyetlost]

"Whatever! It's working, isn't it?" Poland continued swinging randomly and haphazardly while pushing forwards, trying to just get the thing to give them both a little distance. Although after being wounded, it was decidedly more aggressive than Poland cared for.

In between swings, Poland looked back at Lithuania expectantly, "Hello, earth to Liet! How about a plan?"

[vytis]

Poland's attacks weren't really helping Lithuania--his sword was decidedly closer in range, and Poland was keeping the bird too far away for him to do much. Still, it did provide him a few moments to think.

"Either knock it on the ground or pin it to the wall, I need to get in closer," Lithuania said--really, pinning it would probably be better given Poland had a spear, but the other nation seemed quite insistent on using it like a club.

[notyetlost]

"Hyaaah!" Poland swung using his full force, slamming the bird into the closest wall. It crumpled to the ground, disorientated. Then as if he suddenly remembered how a spear was supposed to be used, Poland brought down the point of the spear through the bird's wing pinning it to the floor.

It hadn't been exactly what Lithuania had asked for, but as far as Poland was concerned it was close enough.

[vytis]

Lithuania struck as soon as the bird was pinned down, slicing off its head with one smooth motion--though Lithuania stayed on edge for another moment or two before he deemed it alright to relax a little bit.

And then that embarrassment checklist popped up into his brain for perusal. He flushed just slightly, looking at the bird's corpse. They'd made a lot of fuss over one attacking bird. "What were we doing?"

[notyetlost]

Poland plopped on the ground, letting out a huge sigh of relief and exhaustion once the bird was confirmed dead. This was definitely way more intense than his videogames.

"Sucking," After a long pause Poland added, "Royally sucking."

[vytis]

Lithuania groaned in a tone that seemed to be in agreement with Poland's assessment, wiping down his sword and sheathing it again with obvious frustration. "Is one bird really all it takes for us to act like--" Like they'd never held weapons before or never been within a mile of close combat like that or had never chased Prussia down or held Moscow or controlled the largest Commonwealth in Europe at the time-- "that?"

Lithuania pressed the heels of his palm to his face before dropping them again. "We're going about this the wrong way." Like modern nations more used to meetings than swordfighting.

[notyetlost]

As far as Poland was concerned, he'd had a valid excuse. Who even used spears anymore?

Lithuania? Not so much, "Don't you still practice sword stuff in your free time like a dork? What the heck, Liet! That was totally not worth all the times you've blown off my plans for slumber party weekends!"

[vytis]

Lithuania moved fast, all of the sudden--his foot on Poland's chest and the tip of his sword hovering in the air above the other nation's neck. It was fast enough that it was hard to connect the motions together, and obviously well-practiced.

"Yes, I still practice." Lithuania's tone, though, said that he didn't think it should have been that easy to get Poland pinned down.

[notyetlost]

"Gck--!" Before Poland even knew what had happened, he was pinned to the floor with Lithuania's blade in his face. Poland couldn't even react immediately after the fact, Lithuania had taken him that off guard. Poland's face flushed pink with both embarrassment and anger-- "Congratulations you totally got me. Next time, you should try that on the monster."

The obnoxiousness of Lithuania's tone made Poland's face turn redder. When exactly had he gotten so mortifyingly bad at this?

[vytis]

"Maybe I will," Lithuania said, his tone now a carefully crafted even tone. "But I shouldn't have to babysit you the entire time, right? Get up."

He was pressing Poland's buttons deliberately now--not something he did that often. And he wasn't actually giving Poland room to sit up, with his foot still on the other nation's chest and his sword inches away.

But he'd left Poland's arms free and his spear within reach for a reason.

[notyetlost]

"I don't need a babysitter!" Poland bit down on his cheek and glared at Lithuania, trying to keep his anger in check. Lithuania's sudden superiority complex, especially after that display with the bird, did nothing but piss Poland off.

"Get your totally tacky shoe off my chest." Poland gripped the spear next to him, "Before I make you."

[vytis]

Lithuania pressed down a bit harder, if anything. Not enough to really hurt but on the edge of that. He was banking on Poland's pride here. "Make me, Lenkija. Unless you can't."

[notyetlost]

"Wait before that though, Liet. I have to confess," Poland could practically feel his blood boiling, but he took a moment to think before trying to act. The scenario wasn't the slightest bit fair. Not with Lithuania's sword at his throat at least. His spear was a long range weapon and there wasn't much he could do having been pinned while Lithuania was staring down at him waiting for him to make a move. He'd have to rely on his other skills.

He needed to get Lithuania off guard, then move.

"You know that guy Spain was shouting about three days ago, stealing all the panties? It was me." Poland didn't wait for Lithuania to reply, before finishing, "And before I got here I totally stole Belarus' panties too!"

[vytis]

Unorthodox method, probably, but Poland's Poland has managed to catch Lithuania off-guard many a time. He faltered, shifting back onto his other leg a little more, giving Poland more wiggle room (and maybe accidentally revealing he wasn't quite as angry about everything as he'd seemed).

"E-ehh, you did what?"

[notyetlost]

"Ha."

Poland gripped his spear horizontally with both hands, using the base to come up from under Lithuania's blade. With a grunt, he pushed it up and out of range of his neck, giving him the room he needed to move without consequence.

With a forceful jerk of his body, Poland rolled to the side getting out from underneath Lithuania and continued to roll until he'd gotten some distance for his spear.

"Sucker!"

[vytis]

Lithuania stumbled, catching his balance only after Poland had the distance. Well, mission accomplished, at least. Still, he grinned a little--there was something about the situation that reminded him of when he and Poland were still getting used to working together.

"Well, I guess you can still trick your way out of one or two things, at least."

[notyetlost]

Poland grinned back, climbing to his feet quickly. He gripped his spear defensively.

"Hey Liet, gullible's written on the ceiling."

[vytis]

Lithuania rolled his eyes and lunged instead--using the flat of his blade, but aiming to dart around that spear to get to Poland even so. Hopefully it would be harder than it had been a few minutes ago.

[notyetlost]

Poland might not have been as well trained or as physically strong as Lithuania was, but he was quick and unpredictable. His movements reflected that, avoiding Lithuania's blade.

"You know if I had a mount with me right now, you'd be totally crying for mercy!"

[vytis]

"Oh, you wish," Lithuania said, circling around in response to Poland's movements. They were becoming more familiar, though; he'd seen Poland fight hundreds of times before, so predicting him shouldn't be impossible. Still, he wasn't quite up to speed yet. "There isn't anything here for you to ride anyway."

[notyetlost]

"If we were still married I'd have a great comeback for that." Poland's eyebrows wiggled, implying something less than appropriate.

[vytis]

Lithuania pulled a face at him--far less off-guard this time. "I didn't know getting rid of one enemy was all it took to get you talking like that nowadays."

He darted forward again, this time prepared to react to Poland's movements this time--though maybe Poland would be prepared to react to his, too, at this point.

[notyetlost]

"Sorry. Bad habit, I totally can't help it. You always seemed like, way dreamier after stabbing some rival invader... in the face!" Poland lunged, swapping out his evasiveness for defense against Lithuania suddenly coming at him.

Poland let out a surprised yet satisfied laugh at the sound of clashing metal. He hadn't forgotten as much as Lithuania had implied he had after all.

[vytis]

"So the way to your heart is through someone else's stomach?" Lithuania couldn't help but grin as Poland met his blow; this was familiar, like stepping back into well-worn shoes, and he felt a little less out of his element in their surroundings now. "So, you still want that candy for the reward, right?"

[notyetlost]

"I'm a super complicated guy, what can I say?" Poland winked, lowering his spear. He'd fully caught on to Lithuania's intentions behind starting their little fight now.

He smiled, pulling his hair back in a pony tail with a spare hair tie. They were going to own this mission. "Hell yeah!"

[vytis]

Lithuania sheathed his sword again, feeling far more confident in the situation than he had been only a little while ago. "Alright, then, if it's just enemies like that one," Lithuania gestured vaguely to the bird's corpse, "we should be fine to split the rooms between the two of us. You take the left side and I'll take the right?"

[notyetlost]

"I guess." Poland shrugged, starting to head back into the hallway. "Let's just hope none of these monsters were the ones stealing all the panties in town so you don't get distracted."

[vytis]

"I should turn you into Spain after we're done here," Lithuania said, heading out and into the next room--which turned out to be empty except for some plants and broken furniture. Not especially exciting, but it already had monsters in it so that was probably excitement enough.

[notyetlost]

"You'll never take me alive." Poland replied, peeking into the room adjacent to Lithuania's.

From the door frame there didn't seem to be much inside, but admittedly it was kind of dark. Poland could make out the glimmer of something reflecting light from the hallway, it seemed worth looking into.

"Find it yet?"

[vytis]

"No," Lithuania called back after opening up a few drawers on a smashed-up desk. "Maybe we should check near windows?"

If the boy threw it inside he would have had to have somewhere to aim, after all. Unless he'd opened up the door and a monster really had walked off with it.

[notyetlost]

"They'd probably have to be like, open or something though? It's a doll not a rock. So. That should narrow it down probably."

Once his eyes adjusted, Poland entered the room cautiously. There didn't seem to be any dolls that Poland could see. However there were a couple weapons littering the floor. They must have been what had he'd seen from the door frame.

"There's no doll in here either! There's some kind of blade-y knife things though, want one?" Poland poked at one with his lance idly.

[vytis]

"Daggers or swords?" Lithuania, convinced his room held nothing but dust, returned to the hallway. "If they're not too old, they could be useful."

He peeked into the room Poland was checking, to see what the other nation was talking about.