concerned muse is concerned...

[fuckyourtaxes]

... Ma'am? Ma'am!!

--Oh, you don't want me to call you ma'am? But then, how should I address you? If I use your first name that's kinda informal and disrespectful, ain't-- uh--isn't it? I wanted to say somethin' but I forgot...

OH! Yeah!!

I understand I have to be assertive, but this name you gave me--it seems really... rude. Couldn't you have picked something else? Sure, it gets the point across... but I'd like something that sounds more grand! Like "landofthefree" or "allforliberty"!

Swearing won't impress anyone, and I have to do my absolute best!!

Comments

[english_dignity]

Sounds like you've got a really bad king.

[fuckyourtaxes]

You bet I do! We're recovering from a war and he keeps giving us more and more taxes! It takes six months just to go see him! It's not fair at all. We're trying to pay them, but we're struggling and people want their voices to be heard by the king, that's all. People should have the right to be heard.

[english_dignity]

Sounds like some of the ones I've had. We had one who even had people go around and wrote down every goat and sheep people had so he could tax them.

Makes me miss Alfred.

[fuckyourtaxes]

Wow, that sounds awful!! Mine made us put stamps on everything so all the stuff we import and export gets taxed!

--Hey, my name's Alfred!

[english_dignity]

[Blink blink, smiles.]

Your mother must like you then. It's a good name. My best king was named Alfred.

[northernmaple]

[Nope, Matt thinks that name is pretty fitting but he thinks his now little brother is so cute.]

Don't worry, Alfred, you've always impressed everyone even without the grand name.

[fuckyourtaxes]

--!! MATT--! [HE STOPS, ARMS UP, ABOUT TO HUG CANADA, but... he's not supposed to. Alfred drops his arms. He doesn't notice Matt looks years older and there's something different about his post 20th-century eyes.]

Hello, Matt...

[northernmaple]

[Matt looks a little sad at that so he closes the distance between them and gives his brother a hug. He's lived through that time before and he doesn't like that it got between them that time and he won't let it do so now.]

Hi, Alfred.

[fuckyourtaxes]

[Alfred's will wavers when he's hugged. He tries to resist Matt, but he can't. He caves and embraces Canada in a big bear hug.]

I thought you were angry with me.

[northernmaple]

I forgive you. [Matt had forgiven Alfred a long time ago. He loved his brother, he knew that they had been torn apart by circumstances. He had been angry for the invasion but he couldn't lose his brother.]

I couldn't ever hate you. I was mad but you're my brother, Al.

[righinn]

[ oh, hello there, fellow rebellious teenager. because you obviously needed a bad influence. ]

But it will get their attention long enough to make them listen, that's for certain.

[ and yet she's snickering.

sorry if you were hoping to be taken seriously, america. ]

[fuckyourtaxes]

I guess, but I'm trying to prove I'm not some... some rapscallion or hooligan! No one listens to you when they think you're sixteen.

[HUFFS]

1/3

[righinn]

[ at that, her laughter subsides. now there's a sentiment she can sympathize with. ]

Och, tell me about it. With the way their lot goes on about it, you'd think we only exist to be told what to do, what not to d —

[righinn]

[ and then she realizes he said "think." ]

[righinn]

"Think you're sixteen?" D'you mean to say you're not really…?

[ being sixteen herself, she finds that hard to believe — but for all she knows, he might also be one of those people who happens to look rather young for their age. and here she thought she had found a kindred spirit. ]

[fuckyourtaxes]

YEAH! I'm not here to be obedient!!

I -- uhh, I guess I AM sixteen? England says I'm really, really young for a colony. I think I'm barely 200 years old. Uncle Scotland said I was a wee lamb, but I'm not wee! [HE PUFFS UP 8I ] I'm not old like them though. Always bossing me around, telling me what to do...

[righinn]

Sounds like they'd get on well with my mum. [ too well, almost. she hopes for their sake that the three never meet. ] She's got my life planned out so well that she might as well keep the crown instead of passing it on to me. [ which merida would actually be perfectly okay with, but, well… ] I mean, what's the point of having me become Queen when she won't even let me —

[ her rambling suddenly stops as she lets the rest of what he said sinks in. ]

Di-did you just say you're 200? And that you've got an uncle named Scotland?

>3

[vulgarangel]

Alfred?

When did you go blond again? And where are your wings?

[fuckyourtaxes]

[America rubs his eyes in disbelief.] England?! Wh- Why're you dressed like an angel?

[vulgarangel]

Who are you calling England?

[Rustles those wings.]

[fuckyourtaxes]

You! Why are you wearing that costume? Isn't that what you call ... shameful? [he folds his arms] Go away, England.

[collossvs]

...well, if it gets the job done, I 'pose.

[fuckyourtaxes]

Yeah, maybe... It's not as extreme as liberty or death and we already say that, so.

[Wait, wait... He squints.] ... You look a lot like me. Are you me?

[collossvs]

So things may get just a little bit theatrical at times; nothin' wrong with that.

_{[Though instead of immediately answering, he hums and tilts his head a bit, thinking]} No, no, not you...not really. I'm the United States, but only the southern half. "Brother" would be more the word you're lookin' for.

[fuckyourtaxes]

I guess. I mean, it is right to the point. Wait, brother? Only brother I have is Matt. [let those gears turn a little bit...] Oh! This is one of those "future" things, isn't it?!