Dragon on Deck! [action OR prose]

[unionjackoff]

[if you are awake at this hour of the night, you are going to see something really awesome... or really scary, depending on how you look at things. there's a huge red dragon flying close to the ship. It swoops around, darts up high into the sky, then back near the water. it goes forward and comes back... no matter where it goes, the dragon always returns to the ship's side.

most of you are probably wondering what this beast is doing. it can't be here to kill you, right? most of you are already dead. BUT WHO KNOWS. it could be hungry! it could just want to make trouble. or maybe it just wants to tak along.

actually, this dragon is a very restless inmate, one who's tried to keep his secret under wraps so he wouldn't scare the humans. but even his magic cannot last for a week. even he needs to stretch his wings. he won't harm you. in fact, he'll probably ignore you unless you try to hurt him.

if you're his warden, poor you. you get to explain to everyone what the hell is going on]

Comments

[unionjackoff]

"I wouldn't have let anyone drown," Arthur said, narrowing his eyes. "Unless they were the Emperor. But you're certainly not him. Insulting me doesn't warrant death."

His stomach is cold. He wishes it were daytime, so that his body would heat up faster. He needs to feel the fire inside.

[garantundkraft]

"Well. Guess you're a better man than me." He closes his eyes, making himself comfortable since it seems like they might be up here for a bit. "Who's the Emperor? He must be a real peach if you'd let him drown." Prussia pets the scales beneath him idly. They're interesting... So pretty. They're probably more awesome in the sunlight.

[unionjackoff]

England thinks about how to respond first. He supposes there is no harm in telling Prussia everything about his world. It's not like he was going to go there. "Emperor Austria. He's a ruthless monster who wants to destroy human life."

[garantundkraft]

What Arthur did not know, but now does, is that Prussia has something of a knee-jerk reaction to that name. Especially since he blames Austria and his people for the past two wars that led to his own demise. So if Arthur can feel subtle movements through his scales, he will note that Prussia has tensed, fingers digging in a bit harder than necessary.

Even if he can't feel that, Prussia snarls. "Keh, I know an Austria. He's the reason I'm dead." Which is grossly oversimplifying a lot of complex politics, and completely ignores the role the Allies had in his dissolution, but Prussia's always had something of a simplistic view of the world. Everything boils down, in the end, to the fact that it was Austria who started the first war, yet West and he suffered. Then some Austrian came in to Germany to fix things... And Prussia took the blame. So yes, from such a view, it's all Austria's fault.

[unionjackoff]

England turns his head back to look at Prussia briefly. It's fine, there's nothing in front of him, so they won't crash. "You... There's... Austria's in your world?"

[garantundkraft]

"Yeah, there's an Austria in my world. Same as there's an England. And same as there's a Prussia in yours."

[unionjackoff]

"H-he's not a monster, is he?" England faced forward again. Was the human race in danger in this Prussia's world? Maybe there was another set of Chosen there. "What about Hungary? Japan?"

[garantundkraft]

"Huh? No. We're all countries." Heh. Man. If anything, the human race had been in danger from West and him and their allies for a bit there. But not from any race of monsters. Just from how monstrous man can be to their fellow man. "Hungary was Austria's wife for a while, up until the end of the first great war. Then the Austro-Hungarian Empire got broken apart into Austria, Hungary, and a few other smaller countries. And Japan was allies with me and West in the last war."

[unionjackoff]

Hungary being Austria's wife sounded the same. Sort of. Though England doesn't understand the part with Japan. He begins circling around again, back towards the ship that is so far behind they can't even see it anymore.

"West... Is Ludwig, yeah? Your brother?"

[garantundkraft]

"Germany. Ludwig. Whatever you wanna call him. He's my little brother." He misses his stupid younger brother. Ah, damnit. "I wonder how he's doing without me..." There was that scrying pool he'd found with Willow, but... It seemed pointless to waste his time sitting by it and just watching what was happening back home.

[unionjackoff]

"I don't know any Germany," England replies. "Just Ludwig. You... Er, Gilbert calls him West all the time. Don't know why."

[garantundkraft]

"That's kinda weird. I call my West 'West' because he's to the west of me." Here Prussia presses firmly against a softer feeling scale with one finger to trace a shape. His old borders. "If it were a map, this would be me." And then he moves his finger to draw a shape to the left of the first one... or, rather, to the west. (And a little south too, but who cares about that?) "This is Germany." (Which is actually a little inaccurate, because he should have traced around his own borders again to get Germany's eastern borders.)

A long pause. "Well. It'd be an old map now, I guess. No more Prussia anymore."

[unionjackoff]

Okay, that tracing right there? That made England shiver a little. He wondered if Prussia could feel it. He cleared his throat. Focus, Arthur, focus.

"A... A map? You mean you really are countries?" That's what Prussia said he was, but England didn't consider landmasses to be part of this equation. He wanted to get warm so that they could discuss this face to face.

[garantundkraft]

Yeah, actually, he could. He figured Arthur was probably a bit ticklish there. Ooops.

"Uh. Yes. I am actually a country. Well. Was. There's no longer any Prussian government or land called Prussia or a Prussian people. My government was abolished and my land cut up and given away." This would be a bit easier face to face, definitely.

[unionjackoff]

"I don't understand." Ah, the ship is coming into view again. Maybe England will be able to change back. He's still cold, though. "How can you be... a country? You aren't made of dirt and rocks........ Are you?"

[garantundkraft]

"It's... complicated." That is a really lame and unawesome explanation. Give him a minute here to think of how to explain this. "I guess I'm more like a spirit. Though with an actual body, not just some sort of ghost. I'm my people and their culture and their land, all in one awesome package!"