Life Found [[Open]]

[America]

America was waiting. It seemed that's all he ever did these days. He waited for his breakfast, he waited for his turn with the t.v., he waited for his legs to finally heal, and now he had to wait for the others to arrive. Granted, he did situate himself by the door a little early, but who could blame him? It had been a while since he was allowed a chance to go on any sort of mission, and now since they needed to map out more of the area, he was the perfect candidate.

But England was late (by two minutes), and America didn't know who else was to be joining them.

[[don't mind me i'm gettin used to the new forum look]]

[Austria]

It was still early in the morning - at least, Austria had not been awake long. Upon his awakening - which had been unusually natural - the nation had remembered that England had requested his presence. As quickly as he could whilst retaining dignity, he had dressed. However, there was one issue with said dressing - his boots. The exact issue was that they were missing.

He pinched his nose, and gave a sigh. It was going to be one of those days.

Barefoot, he climbed down the ladder to the main area, and made his way to the door. If his boots were not at the end of his bed, then the most reasonable place for them to be was by the door. In recent years, Austria had been more careful about where he left his items.

As he passed the other nation, he nodded to America, but did not stop as he passed and searched for his missing footwear.

He found one boot there - his left one - although that still left the right one unaccounted for.

"America," he walked back to the nation he had previously passed, "You wouldn't happen to know where my other boot is, would you?"

There may have been a hint of accusation in his voice, although it was unintentional.

"Or, for that matter, why exactly England wished to see me without turning up himself?"

Possibly the base commander over-slept as well, although he thought the idea unlikely.

[England]

England only checked the time once the entire plan was run over through his head four times in entirety. He could not afford any more casualties, especially not casualties as bad as America and his recent accident. He was about to review the plan a fifth time and try and think up of a backup plan, when he realized that the time on his watch was not wrong, and that indeed it was six in the morning, and that he still had not gotten a wink of sleep. It didn't really matter, if he was honest with himself. He was too anxious to get any sleep anyway.

Tidying up just a bit, England left his darts on the map and grabbed a pocket map for their exploration team to use on his way out of the meeting room, which was also his makeshift tactical base. He exited into the main area of the warehouse and noted that the lights were still dim, meaning that the nations were still asleep. In that case, they had to make sure that they didn't wake anyone up while leaving.

He walked over to the front door, noting the two figures of his expedition companions, and saluted them casually as he came near.

"Good morning, you two. I'm sorry for my tardiness. I didn't see time fly. Anyway, do hope you're ready to leave."

[America]

He did want to laugh at Austria when the elder nation came down, because, honestly, it was hilarious. Austria was supposed to be prim and proper, always well-dressed and ready for anything, and yet here he was, looking for an extra boot. If America wasn't so anxious to go outside already, he would have taken a few minutes to laugh.

"England should be down soon," he answered. "And I honestly have no idea where the boot is. I mean...don't you remember where you last put it?" He straightened up, trying to look haughty, and stated, "We're supposed to leave our boots by our beds, ya know. Didn't you get the memo?" And with a smile, he decided he had teased the man enough. "It might be over near the couches. I wouldn't put it past another nation to kick it over there or something."

He was about to offer his help to go and find it when England suddenly came up. And he saluted. America sighed; he wasn't going to start being so formal anytime soon. "Man, I've been ready since, like, five this morning." He really was unable to sleep, excited at finally being given the chance to explore some more. So far, it had been simple guard duty, and that was extremely boring. "Once Austria finds his shoe, he'll be ready."

[England]

America's comment was bizarre, and England turned to Austria questioningly.

"Your shoe?" he paused to ponder. "I... can't say I've seen it around these parts." Then again, he hadn't seen much, really, all holed up in his office all the time. "I'm sorry. Perhaps you could check around the common area real quick? We really cannot afford to order new boots for you, or for anyone else for that matter, so I'd appreciate it greatly if you could stow them away carefully next time."

Leaving Austria to that, he headed over for the closet that held all of their gear and opened the crate next to it. He pulled out three survival packs, tossing one to America without a warning and slinging one across his back and tightening the straps. The other, he set at his feet for Austria.

[Austria]

"I left it with the left one," Austria snapped back, "And I also received the memo about no mud near the bunks."

There was a comment Austria could make to England as well, concerning the fact the boot was stored so safely even he could not remember where it was, and that there were not many places it could actually be, but he bit in tongue. England was, in the current circumstance, his superior after all. He nodded to him instead, an action between thanks and acknowledgement, before going to look around the common area.

As he did so, he muttered under his breath as he pulled the footwear out from underneath one of the couches. Now having claimed both of them, he pulled the shoes on and returned to where the others were waiting.

[America]

He sighed as Austria went off to look for the shoe, shaking his head. "See, this is why people need to be super clean and tidy," he told England, and when he realized the older nation wasn't listening, he just continued anyway. "I tell that to all the nations, but they all say that I'm wrong. Here, now, is a perfect example of how- oof!" He barely caught the bag as it hit him in the stomach, and he turned his glare upon England. "You could've handed it to me." But it didn't hurt at all, and he was at least thankful he had it, so he slung it around his shoulder and waited for Austria to return.

"We ready now?" he asked, glancing down at Austria's feet just to make sure both boots were on. Yep, they were, and that meant they could leave. "C'mon England, we ready?"

[England]

"That's for being a pretentious brat. Can we count all the times I've found your clothes strewn either in the shower or around our bunk." He smirked, snickering. "Not to mention that I seem to be finding an odd number of your pairs of dirty underwear in my bed and under it." He gave him a pointed look. "So don't let me hear you make any more offhanded comments about your cleanliness, because you're far from being a model." And of course, if people saw the state of his office, they wouldn't consider him as a model either.

When Austria returned, England handed him the backpack with a nod, glad that they had a third person with them. After all, this was a survey job, and it would go a lot faster with more people. In any case, they were planned to split up later on. Which reminded him of the safety procedures.

"Alright so I've ordered a new model of walkie-talkies, and we're actually the first squad to try them out," he informed them, opening the closet and pulling three radios off of their charging base. "These are equipped with a GPS, and are trackable both by the users and by the base that is right here. As long as you have it on you, we'll find you." He showed them the radio, and pointed at a button. "This button is the alarm signal. We'll all be wearing an earphone so that we can hear without being heard by the zombies. If there is any kind of emergency, pushing this button will send a sharp tone through the line and a map of the positioning of the user in distress will be displayed. To communicate, it's the usual, just pushing the button and speaking into this mouth piece will work," he finished, tapping the radio that would be clipped to the lapel of their clothes. "These are worth several thousand dollars each, so please try not to damage or ruin them. We've cut red and white meat out of our diet for two months to be able to afford these, so let's try not to repeat that."

[Austria]

Austria took the bag, thanking England on instinct. He pulled it on, and strapped up the chest strap. The waist one, however, was left dangling at his side; he preferred to be able to get out of the bag quickly if something decided to use it as a handle.

He listened as the new walkie-talkies were explained. It sounded mostly like a good idea, although the price of them was an unpleasant thought. Maps were also a good idea; paper ones had a tendency to get ruined, and following directions were not a speciality his - especially in an emergency.

"Are they water proof?" It sounded like a rather stupid question, but it would not do for their new tools to be ruined by rain.

Austria mentally scolded himself; that was America's sort of question. Why on earth did he say that?

[America]

America scoffed at England's response. He was pretty sure he only forgot his dirty clothes in the shower a couple of times. And, hey, who could blame him? He had far better things to do than make sure that every single article of clothing was put away in its correct spot. And as for the underwear... "You know very well why the underwear is on your bed," he said, smirking at his boyfriend. "Don't pretend like you don't." Hopefully, that would get him to stop nagging.

Once England finished explaining the walkie-talkies, America pointed at Austria and nodded. "Yeah, what if we fall in a river or it rains or something? Good question, Austria! Oh, and..." He frowned; something was bothering him more than the potentially not-waterproof walkie-talkies. "We're not gonna be eating meat? Christ." Maybe he could find Scotland and do some hunting. In any case, he knew better to complain for too long, so he held out his hand for one of the new radios and waited.

[England]

England threw America an unimpressed look, raising his eyebrows as if saying 'really? Do you really want to go there?'. He decided that it was not worth pursuing, though, after a while, and sighed, turning his attention to the question that Austria had asked.

"I haven't had time to read the instruction manual from top to bottom yet, so I can't say for sure, but considering the quality and price of these things, I'd be inclined to say yes. Let's not test it out, though. I highly doubt rain will damage them if they're not waterproof, but if you fall into the river, then you might want to cross your fingers." He shrugged, and then handed one radio to each of them. He then clipped his own radio securely on his belt and made sure it wouldn't dangle, then clipped the mouthpiece on his jacket collar and looped the earpiece around the shell of his ear, securing it.

"Now now, America. You won't die. We'll get our nutrients from elsewhere, and just miss the satisfaction of eating steak for a couple of months. It's hardly ever about comfort around here anyway." The last part was said with some bitterness, but England brushed that off his mind and concentrated on the task at hand. "Alright. Whenever you're ready, we can set out."

[Austria]

Austria did not want to know that, and was glad that England gave the comment the contempt it deserved. America, however, was rapidly falling in terms of respect he held or him. Although, with his behaviour, it was not high to begin with.

"Don't get electrocuted. Or worse," for some bizarre reason (he had woken up on his own, and had had time for coffee today), he was in a rather bad mood. Worse mood than usual, anyway. He clipped the radio part to the waistband of his trousers, and the microphone to the bag strap - his collar wasn't up to the job when he last tried it, so he doubted it would be now. He had a little more issue with the earpiece.

"There's always chick-peas," was his comment to America as he fought with the item, "many people live without meat every day. Even if there weren't lentils," he looked at America over his glasses, as his earpiece finally settled into place and his voice became slightly harder, "it takes longer than two months to kill a human by protein deficiency, let alone one of us."
Surely America knew that already, though? Even the America had had starving times in its early history. And comfort? That hadn't existed for a good while now.

"I am ready," he turned his attention back to the leader of the group.

[America]

He snickered at England's expression. It felt too good to be doing missions again that he honestly didn't care much about how he was thought of at this point. Once England handed them the radio, America studied it carefully before copying Austria's movements and clipping it around his belt, then moved to get the rest of it hooked in securely to where it needed to be. "You can't get electrocuted from this if you work it right," America said. "I mean, so long as there aren't any faulty wires, we should be fine." It was only after he said it did he realize Austria might be joking. Then again, did Austria ever joke?

He glared at the two other men and groaned. "Man, I'm not...you honestly think that I think we could die just because we gotta go a month without any meat? I know we have other means to survive. I simply like my steak and hamburgers and hot dogs, is all." He would be subjected to rabbit food for a while, and that did not suit well with him.

"Yeah, we gonna go now?" Everything was clipped correctly, and he had his weapons and supply bag, and, most of all, a determined attitude. Couldn't have been more ready than that.

[England]

"We will go as soon as you're done debating the importance of red meat in our diet. It's not as important as to keep us from leaving at the right time, anyway." England shrugged. "In any case, we should get going. By the time we make it to the town we're surveying, daylight will be completely out. If we're lucky, we can map out and raid any important places before dusk and be here before then as well. If we leave early, we can get back early." He motioned to the door with his head and then turned around to open it and exit. "Let's go."

[Austria]

Austria looked at America for a few seconds, "I would not put anything past you, America."

In all honesty, America's childishness, yet bouts of intelligence, annoyed him. Possibly more so than Italy's general idiocy. The meat and the electrocution proving his point.

Seeing nobody move to leave, he took England's advice, and opened the door.

((Sorry - been at the Con I forgot about. Have a few pictures, and will tell in lrct later; going out for the evening too.))