An introduction to a longer World Academy work I am considering. No human names. Please comment/leave kudos if you like the concept and would like to see more.
It was a surprise to almost no one that Prussia's favorite classes were strategy, politics, and wartime relations. He loved everything to do with cartography, as well, and had a huge map of his former territory hung on one wall of his dorm room. It started out black and white and quite uninformative, but he filled in his gains and losses with different colored markers until the whole thing was a rainbow of history and surprisingly neat details about each inch he managed to seize in his heyday.
Soon after he put the finishing touches on his map, Germany pulled him aside and asked him in low tones if he was truly alright with having all of his past victories on display when he no longer had his own country. At first, Prussia brushed him off, but after a few days of thinking he met Germany outside his younger brother's room.
"It was hard in the beginning," Prussia said nervously, rubbing the back of his head with blunt fingernails. "I was angry. Very angry. But I- thank you for allowing me to take care of some of my old territory, it really helps-"
Azerbaijan and Pakistan swore that they saw the two hug, Prussia crying on his brother's shoulder, but not many people believed them. Veneziano, of course, had no doubt that they were telling the truth.
Prussia had a wealth of strategy information, in any case. He was at the top of every class that had to do with Principles of War, Offensive Strategies, and was at least on par with Russia when it came to Defensive Strategies. It made some nations nervous to have him allowed in the wartime classes (especially when he didn't try nearly as hard in his diplomatic policy courses) but Germany and Veneziano were always willing to vouch for him.
He ran a few tutoring sessions every week, but they were liable to be canceled if he had a LoL team practice or a WoW raid. This one, almost every Friday, was for the Offence class, but a lot of other nations drifted in and out to ask Prussia questions.
The only two people who attended every time were Veneziano and Romano, the latter of which looked like he'd rather be inside a meat grinder every time. It was a surprise to absolutely no one that the Italy brothers were abysmal at anything to do with war or strategy. Veneziano was one of the best in his economics class (and Romano was getting better every day), and Romano was especially skilled in agriculture and trade, but it was a requirement for them to have at least a little education in offensive war strategies.
Germany may or may not have paid Prussia to give them these lessons, when all of his other study groups were free.
Today's topic was 'shock and awe,' a strategy that would be prominent on their next exam. Prussia's eyes gleamed just thinking about it; although it seemed stupid, like a Hail Mary at the end of an American football game, it actually took a lot of pre-planning and training. Veneziano was more interested in planning his shopping list for dinner and Romano was flipping through his textbook with a pained expression.
After ten minutes of absolutely no progress, Prussia sighed and crossed his arms. He was standing on the front desk of the mostly empty classroom, making phantom movements with an imaginary sword to demonstrate what the left flank of the soldiers should be doing, but only Lithuania was really taking notes (and why was he interested in being tutored anyway?).
"Vene!" Prussia cried, jumping off the desk and landing right in front of the younger Italian. He screamed, as Prussia expected, and the other nation was able to swipe everything from his desk and mime slitting his throat before he even caught his breath back. "That," he said with a wide smirk, "was shock and awe."
Once Veneziano could breathe properly, he grinned and clapped, excited all over again. Romano had almost fallen out of his chair at the scare Prussia gave them but thankfully he didn't notice. Romano knew he would be under particular fire from the ex-nation if he had seen that.
"I guess you guys aren't really awesome enough to understand if I just tell you," he said with a faux-bored expression, glancing at his nails. "Do you have any questions?" While Prussia's thin mouth was turned down in an unwelcoming frown, his eyes were warm as he looked around the room.
Poland, sitting practically on top of Lithuania but not taking any notes (was he… in this class?), raised his hand. "What happens if two armies, like, try to shock and awe each other?"
Prussia made a show of tapping his chin while he thought. "Well…." His face split into another grin, this one more vicious than the last. Even Veneziano looked at him warily. "Then the strongest army wins. Of course, it could be countered with a withdrawal… any smart strategist would leave the enemy a path of retreat to avoid a kamikaze-type attack-suicides for the greater good, y'know?
"Personally, I would try scorched earth instead of the traditional withdrawal, because once you reinforce your army there won't be the possibility of another head-to-head situation if the enemy managed to advance. You'll win and you'll kill every last one of them." Prussia shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned. "This is, of course, pre-airstrikes and long-range weapons. It's a shame armies don't go at each other like they did back in the day."
After this, there was silence, punctuated only by the sound of Lithuania's furious scribbling. It seemed that Poland didn't think Prussia would actually have a good answer. Romano rested his chin in his hand and just kind of… looked at Prussia, the way he was so excited when talking he almost started to move his hands as much as an Italian.
Prussia's bright eyes met his and he felt himself turning red. "I've gotta go, fratellino," Romano mumbled to Veneziano, ruffling the back of his brother's head on his way past and out of the room. Once the door closed behind him, he pressed a hand over his chest and took a deep breath.
Thank you for reading, and please comment/send me a message if you think this is worth continuing.