Little Runaway
By: Aubrie1234
Another problem I realized the next day: There was no internet. No TV, no internet, no nothing. When I was younger, it was something I loved about the house, but now... At least it had phone service, though I had to use an old rotary phone.
"Hey, Daddy." I said, managing to get them, "Listen, we need to install internet in this place and some phone service. If this place is going to be livable, it's going to need some internet. I can't just keep calling you on a rotary phone!"
"Don't worry, I've asked Charter to send a mechanic for that." he chuckled, "I hope everything's okay over there."
"Just fine. When's the mechanic coming?"
"Tomorrow, I think. Stay safe, I love you."
"I love you too, Daddy, bye." I hung up and sighed. Now I felt homesick again. However, I couldn't go back, not now. My unit was to come today, and I couldn't let him down. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Opening the front door, I found a deliveryman standing there, a giant box beside him. He grinned at me.
"So, you're Aubrie, huh?" he said, handing me a clipboard, "You were pretty lucky; any longer and you would have been the 51st." I nodded and signed.
"Are you going to be my deliveryman?" I asked, "And do you know when the other units are supposed to come?"
"Like your first, they'll come every 3-5 days. And yes, I'll be here every time." he tipped his hat with a smile, "Name's Alex, by the way."
"Well, Alex, hope to see you soon. And I hope this place can get fixed up for all the units I'm going to get." He gave me a sympathetic look.
"Good luck, you're going to need it." He then jumped into his van and left, skidding away. I sighed and stepped out onto the lawn, as the crate hadn't been wheeled in. Taped to the side was the manual for a Toris unit. I decided on Lithuania not because I liked him (he was good, but not one of my favorites), but mainly because of his skills. For one thing, I wasn't a good housewife; hated cleaning and never wanted to do it. And for another, he looked like he would be good with children, if I ever got any chibis. Plus, if you looked at the pact he once had with Poland, he could hold his own pretty well. That is, when he isn't being scared by Russia.
I tore off the tape, making sure it didn't rip the manual, and looked through it to the ways to wake him up.
'Congratulations on your new Toris Laurinaitis Unit! He may be a scared Baltic, but he wasn't a fearsome warrior with Poland for no reason! Here are the ways to safely wake him up (that we've documented so far):
1. Say anything in Russian and he will wake up scared. You can reprogram him at this time.
2. If you have Feliks Unit, he will get the Toris Unit awake and out of the box for you. Just try to help Toris before Feliks crossdresses him. You can reprogram him once Feliks drags him out.
3. Politely ask him to come out or ask him to help clean. He will wake up happily and ask you to help him out of the box. You can reprogram at this time.' They were the only options I could use. As I didn't speak Russian or have a Poland Unit, the last one would have to do. I was a bit dusty.
"Hello, Toris? Could you please come out?" I asked loudly, so he could hear me. There was a short muffled squeak, probably from the darkness of the crate, but then I could hear Toris' voice. It didn't sound as shaky as it would sound when the Russias would arrive.
"A-ah, could you please help me out of here?" he asked.
"Er..." I winced. The house didn't have a crowbar, I don't think, which I would also need to get, "Do you think you could help me get you out? I'm not really all that strong..." I tugged at the top, making it creak, but not budge.
"Of course." This time, The top creaked and ripped open, where I helped to pull it up, keeping it open as Toris climbed out. He looked just like he did in Hetalia. Once he was out, I released the top and we stepped back from the box.
"Did you come with any stuff?"
"Just a few changes of clothes. By the way, I'm Toris." he held out his hand to me, which I shook.
"I'm Aubrie."
"Are you getting more units?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah." I nodded, "I'm supposed to get all the different units the FMB guys send me, 1P and 2P." Toris shivered.
"They're scarier than Mr. Russia." he said.
"Well, come on in. You need to get used to the place if you're going to stay here." He nodded and followed me inside. After a quick tour, I told him my plans.
"Aren't they a bit...spur of the moment?"
"Maybe, but would you like to sleep in a crowded room with other units?"
"Point taken, but how are we to get all this money?"
"Regular jobs and odd ones, I suppose." I said, "I have to get my own job, too."
"But we aren't exactly close to town..."
"It's just an hour drive to get there." I said, "Until we can get another car, you guys can use mine. It's my grandparents' van and can hold about 7 people. Should be enough for now, at least."
"Yes, it was out on the porch." Toris looked out a window, "This seems like the perfect place to get away and relax." I nodded.
"I know. I came out here all the time when I was a kid, before my grandparents got a house in town, like the rest of my family." I explained, "I originally wanted to come out here to just have enough room so I could have a dog, but now that you guys are coming..." Toris nodded.
"I can see why you got me then." he was quiet for a while, "...When do we get started on the renovations?"
"Soon." I said, "I've never lived in a house of my own before and I don't know anything about renovating, really." Toris gave a shaky smile.
"Well, when you live with Mr. Russia and you get new countries joining you all the time or leaving, you learn how to renovate a place quickly and without much of a mess. When would you like to get started?"
"Probably after the mechanic gets here, which should be tomorrow." I said, "My Daddy sent him over, since he knows this place has no internet, satellite TV, or anything except a phone connection on a rotary phone. But," I grinned a bit, "I don't really care. I love this place for what it is. What we can do, though, is go shopping for a crowbar so we can get your stuff. The box might come in handy later."
"Alright. And while we're out, we could probably look out for places that have open job spots and furniture that we could add."
"And, if we get enough money, we could get you guys your own rooms and decorate them to what you want."
"That would be nice." Toris mused. We went out to the van and buckled in. Once we were out on the road, we began to talk again.
"So, do you have an idea for a job you would like?" I asked.
"Maybe a renovator for hire, or a cleaner. What about you?"
"I'd really like to be a writer, I've even started my own book." Toris was surprised.
"That sounds interesting. How far have you gotten?" I sighed.
"Not far. My first book isn't even finished. I'm still on Chapter 7, I think."
"What's it about?" I shook my head.
"I don't want to tell you until I'm finished. That also gives me an idea."
"What sort of idea?"
"Besides being a unit, you also know the history of your country well, don't you?"
"Yes, why?"
"You could write down your history as a book, fiction or nonfiction."
"Why fiction?"
"You can guess on the nonfiction part, but for fiction, you could write about your history from how you experienced it, not from anyone else's POV. In fact, I'm sure all of the other units could too. We could make an entire writing room for computers! It'd be awesome, and we could publish and sell books like hotcakes! They could even go in a series!" Toris chuckled.
"You sound like Prussia. But keep all your layout ideas in your head until we head back, so we can start planning." I nodded.
When we came back, we pried open the rest of the box's top to get Toris' stuff, then moved the box to the garage, putting it beside the woodshop bench before heading back upstairs. While we were out, we bought a notebook to keep our home ideas in, so we started to work in it. I wrote out the ideas and Toris helped to draw them so I would know what they would look like. Eventually, it was planned out like this: The house would be expanded upward and downward, not outward. Under the garage, there would be at least a floor of new rooms, and another could be added if needed. Above, there would be at least three more floors, where one room would be the writing room. That we had yet to decide, but we did plan on having me stay on the ground floor in my own room and Toris in the guest room. The guest room would be the Baltic room, where he would share it with his brothers once they got there.
"You know," I began as Toris began drawing the plans for the Baltic room, "it's sort of interesting that your brothers are so different from you, and yet you all get along." He looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"Cousins." I sighed sadly, "I have no girls my age in my family, and all the ones closest to it are boys. I guess I'm kind of glad I'm used to roughhousing, since I'm a bit of a tomboy and don't like the usual girl things, but sometimes, I just wonder how they can stand each other."
"You've never had siblings, have you?" I shook my head.
"I've been an only child all my life. Sometimes I wish I had siblings, sometimes I'm glad I don't. I love my cousins dearly, and they remind me why I' glad I don't have siblings." I looked down, "A few years ago, I had three cousins so much younger than me that I considered them kids/toddlers. I tried my best with them, but I was never really good at doing that kind of stuff, so it makes me wonder how I'll do when I have chibis and teenagers to deal with."
"That's one of the reasons you chose me first?"
"Not just to help, but to also teach me. I get the feeling you would be a good caretaker, dealing with Ivan and all."
"Yes, you get that while having to live with him for so long." he went back to drawing, "He wasn't...as scary as he always seemed. He may have expressed his love in the wrong way much of the time, but I knew that he didn't mean to hurt us. And when he did truly act like a child, it was always me who had to help him."
"He acted like a child?" I was surprised. Toris nodded.
"It only happened a handful of times, most of them usually after a terrible visit from Natalya. The others were always too scared, so it left me to help Ivan get back to the way he was." I thought about the words for a while.
"Back when I was in 9th grade, we read this story about two brothers, called the Scarlet Ibis. Have you ever heard of it?" he shook his head, "Well, when the younger brother is born and can't really do much of anything because his body's so small, the older brother takes it upon himself to make his brother stronger out of pride. 'A knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love,' that was one of the lines in it. Ivan may be cruel to all of you, but he does it because he loves you as friends."
"...I understand now why he never wanted us to leave." Toris murmured.
"Yes, but the story's not finished." I continued, "The older brother continues to push the younger one harder and harder out of pride over the years, until the younger brother's heart finally bursts, killing him. That's when the older brother truly realizes what it means to be proud of something. Not to push something until you're proud of it, but be proud of it for what it looks like now, for what it truly is. And yet, he learned that lesson too late." Toris set down his pencil.
"It sounds sad."
"It is. It's set in the American South, during or shortly after WWI. It makes you question what you do, doesn't it? Is what you're doing, what you believe in, truly the right thing? If you believe it is right, is it really?"
"Do you always do that?" I looked over at him, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you always say stuff like that, such philosophical things? Do you always speak your mind?" I lowered my head.
"No, not in front of others, at least. But I want to make my opinions known, somehow." I turned away, "For some reason, even with what I love always clouding my mind, it makes me think about everything, especially life. Why do we live when we don't life forever? How can the actions of a single person affect an entire race? What is life like after death?" I smile sadly to myself, "Stuff like that keeps me awake at night, wondering if this is the moment I die, if I die young from cancer or a sudden heart attack. Stuff happens, and yet, we live on." Toris stood, putting down his pencil and coming over to me.
"You should talk with Heracles and Kiku sometime, they would love to hear your thoughts on such things. However, don't think about them all the time, you need to be happy." he said, trying to cheer me up.
"I'm already happy, but when I think like that..." I shrugged, "It changes me, I guess."
"For now, just keep your ideas on your good ones, your imaginative ones, not your philosophical ones." I smiled a bright smile and nodded.
"Then let's get to work!"
What Aubrie's talking about, with all her philosophy stuff...That's basically what I think of too. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Also, what do you think of their plans for money and renovating? And yes, the Scarlet Ibis is a real story, check it out sometime; it's actually pretty sad. Next chapter will have the next unit and the Charter communications guy. Also, Alex will continue to make appearances, so he will always be the one to deliver the units. And I also get the feeling that, with all the new countries joining and leaving his house, Ivan and some of the countries who stayed with him the longest would learn how to renovate a home quickly and without much mess. Anyway, READ & REVIEW!