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Post by England on Jan 30, 2010 0:06:51 GMT -5
He could smell smoke, wood, and old ale, Arthur thought muzzily. At first he wondered why - then he pried his eyes open and noticed that his head was down on the table. That would explain it. With a faint groan, he forced himself back into a sitting position - mostly so he could take another swig of his ale (he had a bad taste in his mouth that wouldn't go away - and... and... maybe it was the aftertaste of ale? .... nah) and he leaned back in his chair. This was the life - having a few drinks without a care in the world.
.... completely alone.....
And suddenly he felt himself become rather depressed.
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Post by Denmark on Jan 30, 2010 13:23:52 GMT -5
It had been quite a while since the Dane had had a good drink, all the cheap stuff he kept on the ship couldn't quench his thirst tonight. Aksel and his crew on the Aesir had finally made the long journey to the Americas, where they hoped to find some kind of lead on the treasure of treasures. But now was the time to relax and treat himself to some quality ale. He invited the rest of the crew to come along, but none of them expressed much interest in Aksel's form of celebration.
He walked into the pub, which smelled of cherry cigars and aged carpentry, and surveyed the other patrons, deciding who to chat up first. He spotted a man who seemed familiar that pulled his head up from off the table he was seated at to take a swig from his glass. The man was wearing an outfit that screamed "pirate!", but he knew not weather he was a friend or foe. Aksel racked his brain, which was a rather difficult task for him, but he could not remember how he had known the man, but he there was something about him he couldn't ignore. Aksel decided to take his chances and sat next to the guy; he wanted to know why the man made him so curious.
"Hej!" he exclaimed with the ever-present grin on his face. He waved down a bartender and was handed a mug of ale, took a few gulps and let loose a sigh of satisfaction. "Ahhhh.~ Great night, ain't it?"
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Post by England on Jan 31, 2010 20:37:44 GMT -5
He found his depressing thoughts interrupted by a stool full of chipper blonde, who seemed to want to talk to him. Something about him seemed... familiar, but in Arthur's alcohol fuzzy mind, he couldn't pin a face to a name - something which he was normally relatively good at. Frowning in both annoyance and concentration - where have I seen this bloke before? - it took him a long moment to answer.
"What's so fucking great about it?" he slurred. Not the most intelligent answer, but he was alone and feeling more than a little depressed. And the blonde next to him made him instinctively want to... to... what?
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Post by Denmark on Feb 2, 2010 0:48:05 GMT -5
The man looked like he'd been in the pub for quite a long time; he was rather drunk. Not a happy drunk either, by his attitude. But Aksel, being the happy-go-lucky sociopath he is, looked to fix the man's frown. "Well, I'm here! I know, I brighten the room. Everything's better." He said with a grin. Aksel took a large swig of his beer.
He still couldn't place the man's cafe in his memory, but he wasn't too concerned about that. He had met plenty of friendly strangers on his journeys, if you consider people throwing things at his head friendly. Aksel sure did. Most of his friendships were the kind where you communicate with your fists, so the man's harsh words bounced right off of him. He took another large swig from his mug. Judging by how many empty glasses littered the table around the man, he figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him a little about himself and ask the same. "I'm Aksel, my crew and I just sailed in from Europe. What're ya doing in this corner of the world, sir?" he asked innocently. Something was eating him up inside, desperate to know more.
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Post by England on Feb 3, 2010 23:59:09 GMT -5
"Ah, I see..." Arthur managed to not slur too badly - an accomplishment he was proud of. "M' Arthur of th'Grim. We're 'ere because w're lookin for something." he smacked his lips together and took another hearty swallow of his drink, while watching the blond from over the rim of his mug. Finally, he set it down and gave the smiling man a hard look... well, as hard as he could considering that most everything was rather hazy at the moment.
"You remind me of someone... I think I know..." he said, rather puzzled by the truth in that statement.
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Post by Denmark on Feb 8, 2010 1:24:17 GMT -5
So this guy definitely was a pirate. Sea or sky, he didn't care. Not right now anyway, he didn't want to cause trouble when Arthur looked like he wouldn't mind flinging a few large glass pitchers at his head, which Aksel would not enjoy. "You don't seem like too much of a stranger to me, either," he admitted as he drained the rest of his mug's contents and ordered another. He felt lighter, more relaxed than he had in a while. "So how come you're in this place instead of searching for that something?" he grinned as he asked. This place served pretty nice ale, he would not deny that. He took a swig from his new mug and set it down, looking at the man over the top of both their glasses.
It was then that he noticed how familiar and deeply emerald green Arthur's eyes were, clouded though they were from heavy drinking. Because he spent so much time on his beloved ship, Aksel wasn't used to seeing eye colors that didn't range from blue to violet. He caught himself staring stupidly at them, and suddenly found his half-empty second glass of beer particularly interesting.
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Post by England on Feb 11, 2010 15:18:56 GMT -5
"I ws supposed t'meet with... with... someone..." for the life of him, he couldn't remember who he was supposed to meet. Picking up his beer for another swig - and coming to the sudden realization that there was no more beer in the mug - he tried to focus on the man in front of him. He remembered the person he was supposed to meet was... blond... and had violet eyes... was this guys eyes violet?
Leaning closer until he was nearly nose to nose with the other man, he held his breath and stared at his eyes. "Nope... s'blue, not violet..." he shrugged and moved to sit back down on his seat.
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Post by Denmark on Feb 15, 2010 21:46:47 GMT -5
Aksel chuckled heartily, apparently the man had been stood up, judging by the amount of alcohol he'd consumed. He had to have been there quite a while... Not that it hadn't happened to him before in his life, but now he doubted Arthur would be able to distinguish his patron in the state he was in. He wouldn't mind joining Arthur though, he hadn't been shitfaced like that in a while. His crew on The Æsir knew where he was, they could come and get him if he were unable to stand up and walk himself back to the ship.
He downed what was left in the mug and was just about to wave down a worker in the pub to refill his glass, when suddenly he found himself up-close and personal with the Brit. Arthur was staring at him, studying his face- no, his eyes. The strong smell of alcohol permeated from his mouth, which was a hell of a lot closer to Aksel's own. "Uh, blue? What... Oh yeah, my eyes. 'Guess the guy who stood ya up was supposed to have violet ones?" He was unperturbed but the proximity they shared, hardly anything ever did bother him.
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Post by England on Feb 23, 2010 19:03:49 GMT -5
Thumping back down in his seat, he signalled rather blurrily for another pint. "I... I think so? can't quite r'member..." he sighed, shrugging it off as another good ale was placed in front of him. "But, seriously... you remind me of... someone... can' quite r'member who tho..."
Without even realizing he was doing it, he pulled a worn compass from his pocket, twirling it about in one hand as he watched the other with faintly glazed eyes, trying to delve into his memories and coming up blank.
(ENGLAND IS SO SORRY FOR BEING A FAIL MOD AT REPLYING! *dies a little*)
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Post by Denmark on Feb 26, 2010 22:33:59 GMT -5
Aksel relaxed in his seat and took a final, great swig from the mug he held. His new acquaintance wasn't the only one with a nagging feeling of familiarity... in fact, he sensed that he had encountered the man before. Not only that, but he felt Arthur had yielded to him in the past. It wasn't surprising he felt this way though, Aksel often thought highly of (and occasionally overestimating) himself. What did bother him though was that he had no recollection at all of this guy, just an uncanny feeling. It wasn't the first time he'd felt this way either, come to think of it...
He waved his hand in the air, signaling for a new glass and dismissing his thoughts, which were becoming clouded with alcohol anyhow and didn't make much sense.
"Yeah, I know what ya mean. What 'n hell are ya lookin' at that fer?" He watched the man absently pull out a compass and stare at it. Somewhere in the pub, a musician was playing a hymn familliar to the Dane's ears and Aksel found himself grinning beginning to hum along with it while taking a drink from his new glass of ale.
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Post by England on Feb 28, 2010 12:17:28 GMT -5
Arthur didn't answer to Askel's question at first, he was concentrating on the shine that was coming off the compass. It reminded him of gold... which with this man seemed so familiar and... scary? There was a word on the tip of his tongue.. what was it? He let his thoughts fall away for a second to perhaps dredge it out.
"...Lindisfarne..." he murmured, then snapping out of his daze.
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Post by Denmark on Mar 3, 2010 22:35:37 GMT -5
"Lin...dis...farne...?" He mimed the man's word slowly, syllable by syllable as if dissecting it. Was that a pang of... pride? Adrenaline? Images flashed briefly in his clouded mind of a coast... Longboats...
"What in Odin's name..." He held his gaze at the man in a drunken stupor before him. Why was he feeling so stirred up suddenly? An amused smirk dawned on his face and replaced his dazed expression, it wasn't everyday Aksel met someone who had this sort of effect on him. In fact, the only time he had ever felt anything remotely close to this was with the other men on his ship...
He leaned forward over the table and brought his face a lot closer to Arthur's and looked him dead in the eye. "You're not like other people, are ya?" he said, still grinning.
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Post by England on Mar 4, 2010 22:01:17 GMT -5
He suddenly felt a whole lot soberer as he stared into those eyes and felt a wash of fear. Fear? He couldn't remember why, but this man worried him - he could imagine him younger, with viking garb and a large battle axe, chasing him through a monastery.
Funny how his imagination looked so realistic. Stepping on the urge to back away from the grinning man, he used what many people called the British 'stiff upper lip' to try and stay calm. "I'd like to think so."
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Post by Denmark on Mar 4, 2010 23:43:10 GMT -5
He leaned in even closer to the man, who had a sudden change in his demeanor, like a predator closing in on it's prey. What is it that he saw a brief flash of in Arthur's eyes- fear? There were obviously pieces of the puzzle missing, but there were enough now so that they gave Aksel had a good idea. Now very much up-close and personal, he inquired, "You know what I mean, right? Like something ain't quite right with your life. Like you're chasing something you just can't quite catch." A small breath with a hint of laughter escaped his grin. "Or in your case, running from it."
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Post by England on Mar 8, 2010 17:47:52 GMT -5
"...like you've forgotten the reason why you should be afraid, but your body remembers..." he leaned back as far as he dared without falling off the stool - which was suddenly a tempting idea, anything to get some space. Deep down, he wondered why he wasn't acting like himself - any of the himselves to be exact - what was it about this seemingly innocent man that scared him so?
Had he been on Rome's ship? Arthur was sure he'd remember if he was - but damn it all, this was so confusing!
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