[center][Fancypost=width:620px][align=justify][font=verdana][color=white][size=8]The little Zeeland town was called Ravensfoort; it sat by the edge of the water, although its harbour looked rather empty and forlorn. Unlike most old villages in the province, it still had its walls and parapets, atop which the molen stood like silent guardians, untouched by the bombs that had laid waste to the larger port of Rotterdam. The canal, which ran from the harbour to the edge of the town, was still intact; the canal which, long ago, played host to trader's ships from far away carrying spices and fabrics and flowers. During the war the canal had been tightly shut from the river and fallen into disuse, but the war was over. Germany had withdrawn; the famine was over; it was time for celebration.
The people of the village poured down the street to the harbour, laughing and cheering, pushing and shoving, and Theo ran with them, laughing and trying very hard to stay on his feet in the joyful scrum. Through the crowd he caught a glimpse of Janna and Dennis, running hand in hand along the canal, following the progress of the boats- military boats, but flying the red flag of Canada instead of the German red and black. The Canadian soldiers waved; most of them looked rather self-conscious with all the attention- and the moment the boats reached the docks and they began to disembark they were mobbed. Everyone wanted to be the first to welcome their liberators to Ravensfoort. Theo saw a girl rush up to one of the soldiers and kiss him on the cheek- only when she darted, giggling, back into the crowd did he realize it was Mina. He hadn't seen her so much as smile in weeks.
He spotted another one of the children, Laurens this time, squeezing his way past a gaggle of elderly folks to get closer to the docks. One of them scolded him for stepping on her toe as he went by. That meant that four out of five were accounted for- but where was Marius?
Grumbling to himself about having to keep track of his siblings at a time like this, Theo made his way to the edge of the crowd, hoping to find a better vantage point from atop the wall. No such luck; he was moving against the current and didn't have the strength to push through the laughing, milling wall of people. They were all pushing towards the docks, each one wanting to get closer to the boats, and against his will he found himself moving in that direction. "Godverdomme," he hissed, more out of frustration than any pressing anxiety to locate his brother. It was very annoying, being small.
Then suddenly he was at the edge of the crowd- and the edge of the canal, several metres from the dock. Theo had one second to look down before he was bumped from behind, he overbalanced, and-- a hand grabbed his arm before he hardly had the chance to fall at all and pulled him up onto the cobblestone.
The crowd moved on around them, continuing up towards the docks and the town, and moments later it was he and his rescuer standing side by side at the edge of the canal. Embarrassed, he brushed off his shirt. "Dank je-" he began, then looked up, took in the white skirt and realized that this was one of the women from the boats. "Er... thank you," he corrected himself, smiling self-consciously. In his thick accent, it sounded more like tank yu.
////////////// Please do not be fooled by my crappy first post- I am an advanced roleplayer and i have a ton of muse for this plot! The setting, obviously, is Holland at the end of the Second World War. My character is only twenty years old, but after his father died in the field and his mother died in the famine he has been raising his five younger siblings. Times have been hard. Your character is a young Canadian field nurse who (for whatever reason) left her home and family behind and has no intentions of returning. My characer speaks very little English, while yours speaks no Dutch whatsoever. You might say that it's love at first sight.
This will be a fairly fluffy but occasionally serious life roleplay. Our characters will end up getting married, but how and when they get there remains to be seen! This will also be a very long-term roleplay, up to 1953 and beyond, probably using a few mutually-agreed time skips. The point is, I want it to be a story! I don't expect a novel every post (besides the first one; i always expect a novel for the first post); two or three detailed, well-written and relevant paragraphs will do fine. I'd much rather have two paragraphs every other day than a long post that takes a month.
Your character should be the same age as Theo or older. She has seen some pretty grisly stuff, but doesn't have much experience in domesticity or domestic hardships. She should have a pretty strong motherly instinct- the better to act as "replacement mom" to five children- a brave spirit, the better to start a new life in a foreign country, and a past that she's eager to leave behind. As for Theo, he's patient, stoic and honest, with a stubborn streak a mile long. No face claims here; imagine someone around 5'5" (height-wise he is not your typical Dutchman), slim, with wavy blond hair, blue eyes and a sharp nose.
Thanks for reading all that, and I cannot wait to get started!