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hetalia2010-12-08 08:46 pm
blackrabbit9.livejournal.com) wrote in hetalia2010-12-08 08:46 pm
Entry tags:
[Fanfic] A Christmas Story: Catastrophe in 24 Acts (8/24)
Authors: Treyen and Blackrabbit
Beta: CrescentLilly
Characters: Ensemble. In this chapter: Finland, General Winter, the reindeer.
Pairings: mistletoe/world
Rating: T
Genre: adventure, comedy
Warnings: Mistletoe, ridiculously cute critters, blatant disregard for foreign holiday traditions, abuse of classical ballet, some cursing and a few OCs.
Summary: With only a few days to Christmas the Nations should be busy preparing for the party. Only no one is really feeling like it, and that kinda-crucially-important little Finn is nowhere to be found.
Previous parts | On ff.net
~~~
Sunday, December 19th, afternoon
"Jesus Christ," Finland swore, staring wide-eyed at the huge ice castle in front of him. "Hasn't this guy heard of modesty?"
"Hm," the General just commented, leaning onto a tree. It was one of the last trees before a little open yard in front of the building that served as a home for Grandfather Frost. "Are you going to walk up to the front door?"
"Yeah, I'm going to knock and say 'hi, could I get Christmas back, please? Ahaha~' – no," Finland answered sarcastically and then fell silent, pondering how he was going to get inside. It would have been easy if Rascal had known how to fly though a flying reindeer probably wouldn't have been the most easily concealable sight. Finland let his eyes wander over the house, from the main door to all the windows and towers, small and large, balconies and– the hell, was that a slide? It was a perfect fantasy castle, sparkling white and blue in snow and sun. Finland frowned at one detail. "Say," he asked General Winter. "Why isn't that water in the moat frozen? Even though it's this cold."
"The old man keeps it open by altering temperatures around it. A frozen moat wouldn't really do its job, right?" his guide answered, doodling a huge snowflake on the tree trunk with ice he produced from his fingertip.
"Well yeah, I guess," the nation admitted and nodded. "You have any idea how I'd get in unnoticed?"
"No. Since I always go through the front door like normal people." General Winter gave Finland a glance and moved on to draw a snow leopard beside his other drawings (around the snowflake had appeared a heart, a rough bird and something that looked like a distant relative of an octopus.) When drawing the big cat proved too difficult he resigned to a kitten instead, which came out quite well.
By the time he was done, Finland had long since excused himself and Rascal and gone looking for an entrance for not-normal people. The General had a vague recollection he had actually said goodbye but then his kitten looked lonely and he started drawing her a partner, forgetting about the nation for the time being.
Meanwhile, Finland and Rascal were circling the castle in the shade of the trees, hoping no one would notice them. Finland knew the moat wouldn't be a problem to the reindeer so the focus of his attention was on where to cross the water and what to do after that. He only paid cursory attention to their surroundings: Rascal was taking care of that, choosing her path through the trees based on concealment.
Finland stopped his eyes to one window. "Rascal?" he leaned in to whisper to the reindeer. "It's almost Christmas so your strength should be about double the usual, right?"
He could have sworn the doe smiled.
"Let's go," Finland commanded, smirking in excitement. He made sure the gun was secure on his back as Rascal chose a good place to start a dash. Finland searched through his small backbag for a while and soon found what he needed. "I know you're still in training but this much you can do, right?" he checked again.
Rascal sent him a glare that clearly said he was a complete and total idiot and Finland figured he had no talent with women whatsoever. He let the reindeer handle the rest and focused on the little decorated pouch that fit nicely in his palm. He pulled the red ribbons to get to its precious contents. Father Christmas had given him a little bit of his magic to make him temporarily invisible. He had warned Finland against using too much of it due to some side-effects it had on anyone else than the official Santa, his folk and the reindeers, and there certainly wasn't enough of it for both Rascal and Finland for a long while. He had to decide whether to hide them thoroughly while they entered or use just a little bit first and save some for later.
Finland decided on the latter alternative and spread the light powdery stuff over them carefully. Rascal sneezed, making her muzzle visible for a while before Finland scolded her and gathered the floating powder back around her head with his free hand. When he was done, he could see a distortion in the air where they were, but otherwise they were hidden. Finland smiled. Finally he had a feeling he was starting his mission for real.
He gave Rascal the green light, grabbing the reindeer's neck and the reins tightly to not fall off while they were moving. He barely managed to get a good grip when she already dashed forwards.
~
Elsewhere in the woods that surrounded the castle; General Winter had just finished his masterpiece: a snowy kitten farm with a puppy dog farmer and a pet octopus, all shining in the warm light of a heart. Yes. Just perfect. Now that he was feeling artistic, what to draw next?
~
Rascal took a good running start before she tensed, bent her hind legs and stepped on the air. She put all her power into hopping higher with each step, up and up in a graceful arc until she knew she had reached her limits. The doe used the last second she could stay in the air for one more leap to the top of the outer wall. Ice clattered under her hooves when they made it and she used the last of the momentum and her unfledged magic to jump again, now straight forward and in through an uncovered window, safely to the ice blue floor. Then to climax their awesome invasion, she slipped on the ice and they both tumbled down. Finland flew off her back and ended up sprawled on the floor, the gun clattering to a stop by his side.
Staring up at the icy ceiling, the nation sighed slowly. "Rascal, that was just inelegant."
The reindeer snorted but she did seem slightly embarrassed. Finland scrambled up. "Well we got in, so never mind the style points." He picked up his rifle and looked around. The room was small, simple and besides the extreme cold looked very comfortable. It looked like a bedroom, though Finland wondered briefly if anyone in the castle actually needed to sleep. He thanked his lucky stars that the room was empty in any case. They hadn't had too many choices about what window to use. Rascal stood up behind him and clip-clopped a few steps to close the distance between them.
Finland only saw his loyal partner from the corner of his eye, but he smiled at her. "You want to wait outside?" he asked quietly.
Rascal answered by pressing her muzzle into his armpit and wriggling her way under Finland's arm. She pressed against him affectionately and Finland followed the curve of her neck to find the reindeer's ears and give her a quick scratch. Then he let go and proceeded to the door, the reindeer at his heels.
~
After managing to make his second masterpiece – a snowy puppy dog farm with a kitten farmer and a pet octopus – look like a mouse farm struck by a snowstorm and a pet barbapapa, General Winter had lost his artistic mood and had settled to counting snowflakes on a fallen birch branch beside him. Currently he was on five hundred and seventy-nine.
~
Grandfather Frost's castle was surprisingly big, labyrinthine and filled with staircases to be the home of someone called a 'grandfather'. Finland couldn't help but think that if one of the elders he had ever met lived in this castle, they'd need a lift, a map, and lots of servants. Grandfather Frost seemed to have none while Finland himself would have appreciated the first two very much. Pretty soon, he had no idea where they had come from their starting point (Rascal had proved to rival Austria when it came to directions) or where he could possibly start looking.
They scouted around for a few hours, spent a quarter of that time hiding from the inhabitants of the castle, an hour walking around and wondering at the beauty of the place, and the rest of the time wondering where they currently were. Finland noticed with some alarm that the invisibility was slowly wearing off. A few times already they had only been rescued by the fact nobody had looked straight at them. Now that they were becoming visible again, they'd have to be more cautious. The problem wasn't really hiding a nation but hiding a reindeer. Finland could dive behind a curtain or in a closet, or flatten himself into some curve of the ornate walls, but Rascal possibly couldn't. Rascal had noticed the same thing herself, but didn't show any concern. She was floating a snowflake's width above the floor again so at least her steps were not heard.
We must be as quick as we can then, this is no time to stay put in fear of being caught, Finland thought as he glanced around a corner to check if the road was clear. I should probably look for a prison for now and those should classically be downstairs, so I need to find some stairs. He slipped down the corridor and whispered to Rascal behind him to keep her eyes open as well.
They managed to find a promising staircase soon enough. Finland took a deep breath. Stairs didn't sit well with his sneaking mode. There were too many unknowns: how far down, what would be there, was there any way out in case they were spotted. If someone happened to climb up at the same time they were going down... He shook it off, they really had no time to hesitate.
Then they were climbing down, someone inevitably was coming up at the same time and Finland's lucky stars flickered and faded.
~~~
Wai no General Winter tag, lj? ;_;
Beta: CrescentLilly
Characters: Ensemble. In this chapter: Finland, General Winter, the reindeer.
Pairings: mistletoe/world
Rating: T
Genre: adventure, comedy
Warnings: Mistletoe, ridiculously cute critters, blatant disregard for foreign holiday traditions, abuse of classical ballet, some cursing and a few OCs.
Summary: With only a few days to Christmas the Nations should be busy preparing for the party. Only no one is really feeling like it, and that kinda-crucially-important little Finn is nowhere to be found.
Previous parts | On ff.net
~~~
Sunday, December 19th, afternoon
"Jesus Christ," Finland swore, staring wide-eyed at the huge ice castle in front of him. "Hasn't this guy heard of modesty?"
"Hm," the General just commented, leaning onto a tree. It was one of the last trees before a little open yard in front of the building that served as a home for Grandfather Frost. "Are you going to walk up to the front door?"
"Yeah, I'm going to knock and say 'hi, could I get Christmas back, please? Ahaha~' – no," Finland answered sarcastically and then fell silent, pondering how he was going to get inside. It would have been easy if Rascal had known how to fly though a flying reindeer probably wouldn't have been the most easily concealable sight. Finland let his eyes wander over the house, from the main door to all the windows and towers, small and large, balconies and– the hell, was that a slide? It was a perfect fantasy castle, sparkling white and blue in snow and sun. Finland frowned at one detail. "Say," he asked General Winter. "Why isn't that water in the moat frozen? Even though it's this cold."
"The old man keeps it open by altering temperatures around it. A frozen moat wouldn't really do its job, right?" his guide answered, doodling a huge snowflake on the tree trunk with ice he produced from his fingertip.
"Well yeah, I guess," the nation admitted and nodded. "You have any idea how I'd get in unnoticed?"
"No. Since I always go through the front door like normal people." General Winter gave Finland a glance and moved on to draw a snow leopard beside his other drawings (around the snowflake had appeared a heart, a rough bird and something that looked like a distant relative of an octopus.) When drawing the big cat proved too difficult he resigned to a kitten instead, which came out quite well.
By the time he was done, Finland had long since excused himself and Rascal and gone looking for an entrance for not-normal people. The General had a vague recollection he had actually said goodbye but then his kitten looked lonely and he started drawing her a partner, forgetting about the nation for the time being.
Meanwhile, Finland and Rascal were circling the castle in the shade of the trees, hoping no one would notice them. Finland knew the moat wouldn't be a problem to the reindeer so the focus of his attention was on where to cross the water and what to do after that. He only paid cursory attention to their surroundings: Rascal was taking care of that, choosing her path through the trees based on concealment.
Finland stopped his eyes to one window. "Rascal?" he leaned in to whisper to the reindeer. "It's almost Christmas so your strength should be about double the usual, right?"
He could have sworn the doe smiled.
"Let's go," Finland commanded, smirking in excitement. He made sure the gun was secure on his back as Rascal chose a good place to start a dash. Finland searched through his small backbag for a while and soon found what he needed. "I know you're still in training but this much you can do, right?" he checked again.
Rascal sent him a glare that clearly said he was a complete and total idiot and Finland figured he had no talent with women whatsoever. He let the reindeer handle the rest and focused on the little decorated pouch that fit nicely in his palm. He pulled the red ribbons to get to its precious contents. Father Christmas had given him a little bit of his magic to make him temporarily invisible. He had warned Finland against using too much of it due to some side-effects it had on anyone else than the official Santa, his folk and the reindeers, and there certainly wasn't enough of it for both Rascal and Finland for a long while. He had to decide whether to hide them thoroughly while they entered or use just a little bit first and save some for later.
Finland decided on the latter alternative and spread the light powdery stuff over them carefully. Rascal sneezed, making her muzzle visible for a while before Finland scolded her and gathered the floating powder back around her head with his free hand. When he was done, he could see a distortion in the air where they were, but otherwise they were hidden. Finland smiled. Finally he had a feeling he was starting his mission for real.
He gave Rascal the green light, grabbing the reindeer's neck and the reins tightly to not fall off while they were moving. He barely managed to get a good grip when she already dashed forwards.
~
Elsewhere in the woods that surrounded the castle; General Winter had just finished his masterpiece: a snowy kitten farm with a puppy dog farmer and a pet octopus, all shining in the warm light of a heart. Yes. Just perfect. Now that he was feeling artistic, what to draw next?
~
Rascal took a good running start before she tensed, bent her hind legs and stepped on the air. She put all her power into hopping higher with each step, up and up in a graceful arc until she knew she had reached her limits. The doe used the last second she could stay in the air for one more leap to the top of the outer wall. Ice clattered under her hooves when they made it and she used the last of the momentum and her unfledged magic to jump again, now straight forward and in through an uncovered window, safely to the ice blue floor. Then to climax their awesome invasion, she slipped on the ice and they both tumbled down. Finland flew off her back and ended up sprawled on the floor, the gun clattering to a stop by his side.
Staring up at the icy ceiling, the nation sighed slowly. "Rascal, that was just inelegant."
The reindeer snorted but she did seem slightly embarrassed. Finland scrambled up. "Well we got in, so never mind the style points." He picked up his rifle and looked around. The room was small, simple and besides the extreme cold looked very comfortable. It looked like a bedroom, though Finland wondered briefly if anyone in the castle actually needed to sleep. He thanked his lucky stars that the room was empty in any case. They hadn't had too many choices about what window to use. Rascal stood up behind him and clip-clopped a few steps to close the distance between them.
Finland only saw his loyal partner from the corner of his eye, but he smiled at her. "You want to wait outside?" he asked quietly.
Rascal answered by pressing her muzzle into his armpit and wriggling her way under Finland's arm. She pressed against him affectionately and Finland followed the curve of her neck to find the reindeer's ears and give her a quick scratch. Then he let go and proceeded to the door, the reindeer at his heels.
~
After managing to make his second masterpiece – a snowy puppy dog farm with a kitten farmer and a pet octopus – look like a mouse farm struck by a snowstorm and a pet barbapapa, General Winter had lost his artistic mood and had settled to counting snowflakes on a fallen birch branch beside him. Currently he was on five hundred and seventy-nine.
~
Grandfather Frost's castle was surprisingly big, labyrinthine and filled with staircases to be the home of someone called a 'grandfather'. Finland couldn't help but think that if one of the elders he had ever met lived in this castle, they'd need a lift, a map, and lots of servants. Grandfather Frost seemed to have none while Finland himself would have appreciated the first two very much. Pretty soon, he had no idea where they had come from their starting point (Rascal had proved to rival Austria when it came to directions) or where he could possibly start looking.
They scouted around for a few hours, spent a quarter of that time hiding from the inhabitants of the castle, an hour walking around and wondering at the beauty of the place, and the rest of the time wondering where they currently were. Finland noticed with some alarm that the invisibility was slowly wearing off. A few times already they had only been rescued by the fact nobody had looked straight at them. Now that they were becoming visible again, they'd have to be more cautious. The problem wasn't really hiding a nation but hiding a reindeer. Finland could dive behind a curtain or in a closet, or flatten himself into some curve of the ornate walls, but Rascal possibly couldn't. Rascal had noticed the same thing herself, but didn't show any concern. She was floating a snowflake's width above the floor again so at least her steps were not heard.
We must be as quick as we can then, this is no time to stay put in fear of being caught, Finland thought as he glanced around a corner to check if the road was clear. I should probably look for a prison for now and those should classically be downstairs, so I need to find some stairs. He slipped down the corridor and whispered to Rascal behind him to keep her eyes open as well.
They managed to find a promising staircase soon enough. Finland took a deep breath. Stairs didn't sit well with his sneaking mode. There were too many unknowns: how far down, what would be there, was there any way out in case they were spotted. If someone happened to climb up at the same time they were going down... He shook it off, they really had no time to hesitate.
Then they were climbing down, someone inevitably was coming up at the same time and Finland's lucky stars flickered and faded.
~~~
Wai no General Winter tag, lj? ;_;