[log] I'll bury you good and straight and right [closed]

[fifty]

Characters: America, England, Sealand
Location Building 86, maybe some other places later, we'll see
Date: duration of the event, starting at evening/night 80
Summary: It's time to deal with awful familiar monsters. A catch-all for the nation group during the event.
Warnings: just the standard event warnings of horror and general upset

Comments

[keepscalm]

[Thankfully, England is smart enough to realise that this is significant, even if America won't outright admit to it. But that still leaves him with what to even do about it. He doesn't think he can get the memory back, though if there were a way, he'd do it.

He puzzles over an appropriate response for a few moments. What would probably be best in lieu of a real solution is some kind of physical comfort, but they don't really do that. Or, when they do, they don't talk about it. Especially England.

Eventually, he rolls onto his side so that he's facing America, a heavy sort of concern on his face.] ...just try to think about the good ones. You've got plenty of those, right?

[fifty]

Yeah, there's lots. [He's almost afraid to remember them, though, in case they get snatched away from him. But it's fine, he can remember hanging out at England's and when Lithuania lived with him and made him breakfast and playing with Canada when they were kids until Canada was so sick of him he didn't want to see America anymore or until America got bored and forgot Canada was even there. Okay, so it's probably just the one memory. ...Whatever it was.]

I better not have forgotten something important for nation stuff.

[keepscalm]

I doubt it. Besides, Canada is used to it. I'm sure he'll remind you at the soonest opportunity, if it's important.

[England is guilty of forgetting quite a bit about Canada, himself, but the past few days have definitely kept his Canada-related memories sharp.]

[fifty]

If it's really important, he'll get mad. [And Canada is great at making America actually feel guilty about that sort of thing. He runs through what he can remember. Does he know what Canada imports? He can't remember. Wait, he's pretty sure he remembers Canada reminding him before, maybe he never remembered that.]

[keepscalm]

[England rolls his eyes.] You'll survive.

[Granted, Canada did make America cry that one time, and England had to tell him to stop...but that was only once! Surely it won't be that bad again. Especially if America explains the circumstances.]

[fifty]

[In that short span of time, America's thoughts have run away with him. He's going over every little detail about Canada as if he could pick out what's missing by process of elimination, but there are all sorts of things he doesn't remember or is pretty sure he never knew at all. His birthday's the first, his flag is red and white with the maple leaf, his allies are, well, him obviously, and... Well, America's allies? And he hangs out with Cuba, but does that count? It's obvious on his face America's working himself up again.]

What if I forgot his name?

[...]

Wait, it's Canada. I know it.

[keepscalm]

[England lets out a sound of frustration, flopping onto his back again and rubbing at his eyes.]

You know his name, you fool. Stop overreacting.

[He's sympathetic to America's plight, but not to these ridiculous melodramatics.]

[fifty]

I'm not overreacting! [Again he whisper-shouts, but at that he finally takes off his glasses. Okay, maybe he's getting a little bit dramatic. It's a dramatic situation! He reaches across England to put his glasses on the nightstand.

Well, at least he's in the middle now. It's his favorite spot.]

[keepscalm]

[He watches America's hand place the glasses down on the nightstand and curls his fingers in the blankets, fighting against the momentary urge to reach out and grab it.]

You are. I know you— I realise it's upsetting, but thinking about it like that isn't going to do you any good.

[If the memory is gone, it's gone. No amount of thinking will bring it back. That's true even for the memories that their brains naturally forget; they rarely come back when one wants them to. It takes time, maybe a trigger of some sort, but dwelling on it rarely yields results.]

[fifty]

I guess... [America's not happy about not being able to do anything, but England isn't wrong here. He needs to sleep so he'll be able to--do whatever they're going to do tomorrow. Those monsters are really persistent. Well, just two monsters now, but it's not like two are that much less dangerous than three.]

[keepscalm]

...just try to get some sleep. [England feels rather dumb for not having anything better to say. Despite how well he knows America, England still isn't very good at this. They're long past the days when England could kiss away the pain of a little bump or bruise.

A thought occurs to him, then. He keeps his eyes carefully trained on the ceiling as his cheeks flush and he rearranges the blankets around himself.] ...if you're cold, I don't mind if you— [He lifts a shoulder in a bit of a shrug.] You know.

[Does America know? England hopes he would, since they share a sleeping space for the express purpose of preserving body heat.]

[fifty]

[America squints at England in the dark. He knows what he wants that to mean, but he doesn't want England to get really upset if he misinterpreted something. On the other hand, it's an excuse to sort of get comfort from England. He decides, in the end, that if he doesn't say anything about what's happening, it should be fine. America shifts enough that he's curled toward England. He doesn't cling, since he doesn't want to be that embarrassing, but he's significantly more closely pressed against England all the same.]

[keepscalm]

[Thank heavens. England didn't really want to explain himself. The purpose wasn't actually to offer warmth, but it's the only way he could say he's all right with comforting America this way.

Though it is much warmer like this. So that's an upside.

It's only logical that England returns the gesture from here, but it still takes him a bit to find the nerve to do it. Eventually, out of sheer spite for the worsening flush in his cheeks, he manages to circle the arm closest to America around the other nation's shoulders.

He clears his throat, continuing to stare at the ceiling.] ...better?

[fifty]

[America's body loses some of its tension, which probably says more than America can manage with words. It's warm like this. And he feels a little less awful about his decisions, too, which is even better in his book. He nods a little.] Yeah.

[keepscalm]

Splendid. [At least England can manage this. It's comforting to know he's not completely useless as a friend.

He wishes he could shake the sound of rain from his ears; idly, he starts to move his thumb in small strokes over America's shoulder, an anchoring movement against the disorientation he feels in the silence.] Get some rest, all right?

[fifty]

Yeah. [America focuses on the movement of England's thumb. At any other time it would be really embarrassing to think about too hard, and it still sort of is, but right now that's outweighed by how it gives him something to pay attention to that isn't the rain or his scattered, still upset thoughts. He's pretty sure he can actually get some sleep now, at any rate.] G'night.

[keepscalm]

[Thankful that America seems calmer now, England finally closes his eyes, heaving a great sigh. Hopefully he's tired enough now to sleep through the rain.] ...good night.