L'Unifolié
253
I've had this idea for a long time now. The title is the name of Canada's flag in French.
Since I went back to school for the winter semester yesterday, I figured it would be nice to write.
Disclaimer: Yes, more French.
L'unifolié
At this particular moment, Matthew could not remember what had possessed him to call over his two parental figures and invite them to his house at the same time. Thinking back on it, he had probably assumed that they wouldn't have been able to make it or that they would have forgotten about him. Unfortunately, today happened to be one of those times when he hadn't been forgotten and both Francis and Arthur were standing in his living room arguing yet again.
The subject of their dispute was directly related to him so he didn't have much of a choice but to sit and listen because that was pretty much all he could do.
It had all started relatively innocently. As a growing country, Matthew had decided that it was high time to come up with a unique flag design that would show the world exactly who he was. He had felt that it would only be fair if he asked the two men who had helped him out as a youngling for their advice. However, he should have spoken to them individually. Without the third member knowing of the meeting.
The design had been easy for him to come up with, but the naming part had been hard. He wanted the name to be special, but he didn't know what to call it and because he was bilingual, he wanted to have a French and English name. That had been another reason why he had called upon France and England.
Both of them had come up with rather unique and interesting suggestions and Canada had let them know of his choice. It had been from there on that the two of them had started arguing like little children. It had also been from that moment that Matthew had regretted his choice. He sighed to himself and continued watching the bickering.
"De tous les noms que tu aurais pu choisir, tu lui as suggéré un nom aussi évident et plate que "Maple Leaf". Je crois bien que n'importe qui aurait pu faire cette distinction."/ "Of all the names that you could have chosen, you had to suggest a name as evident and boring as "Maple Leaf". I think that anyone would have been able to make that distinction."
"Yes, and your name is so much better. "L'Unifolié", the one leafed. Wow, how incredibly plain and obvious as well. At least my name has some poetic feeling to it, unlike your "one leaf" disaster."
"C'est certain que si tu le traduis dans ta langue impure, le nom est affreux, mais si tu le dis en français, la vraie langue, le nom est beaucoup plus poétique que n'importe quel autre nom imaginable."/ "It's certain that if you translate the name in your impure language, the name is atrocious, but if you say it in French, the real language, the name is much more poetic than any other name imaginable."
"Point well taken, especially when considering your poor excuse of a name for your own flag; "le Tricolore"." Francis looked like he was going to smirk, but then he realized that Arthur had succeeded in turning his words against him.
"Au moins mon nom à un certain rapport avec le drapeau en question. Je ne pourrais pas dire de même pour toi et ton «Union Jack.»"/ "At least my name has a certain link with the flag in question. I wouldn't be able to say the same about you and your "Union Jack."" England scoffed at the remark.
"At least it has a decent name! I forced myself to help my people find a very suiting name."
"Well…"
"Et tu ne t'ai pas trop forcé pour en trouver un d'aussi bonne qualité pour Mathieu alors?"/ "And you didn't force yourself to find one of the same quality for Matthew?"
"Francis, je…"/ "Francis, I…"
"Frog, that isn't what I said." France laughed.
"Mais c'est ce que tu es en train d'impliquer."/ "But it's what you are implying."
"Shut up you wanker! At least my suggestion isn't a mouthful to say, unlike your uni-what's-it-called."
"L'Unifolié is…"
"L'unifolié est un joli mot qui décrit très bien le drapeau et qui démontre aussi le fait que le Canada est unique en son genre."/ "L'unifolié is a pretty word that describes the flag quite well and that also demonstrates that Canada is unique."
"Oh quit with your poetics. You're just trying to get into Matthew's pants, pervert."
"Dis ça encore une fois, rosbif, et je te casse la figure."/ "Say that again, rosbif, and I will break your face." England smirked.
"Vraiment…"/ "Really…"
"I'd like to see you try. Bring it on, France. Let's see if you can defeat me this time." Arthur rose from his seat and Francis did the same.
"Espèce d'enfant de-!"/ "Why you little…!"
"ENOUGH ALREADY!" The two older men blinked from their place and turned around to see Matthew standing up as well. They had sort of forgotten about him. The Canadian looked infuriated and for a moment, they both feared that the younger man would pull a Québec on them, but then he simply sat back down.
"Matthew, lad, I'm sorry about that. Please tell that French frog that you agree with my idea so that we can move on with this." England told him as he took the seat to his left.
"Ah non, c'est clair que Mathieu préfère mon idée. Pas vrai, mon cœur? Dis à ce rosbif Anglais que mon nom est beaucoup plus charmant."/ "Ah no, it's clear that Matthew prefers my idea. Isn't that right, my love? Tell this English rosbif that my name is much more charming." France said as he took his other side.
"Actually, I like both of them and I'll use them both. After all, je suis un pays bilingue, right?"/ "…I am a bilingual country…" Canada looked at his two parental figures who nodded in shocked silence.
Their stupor only lasted for a few seconds and once the words had sunk in, they started arguing again. Matthew sighed again to himself. It was true what they said; you could choose your friends, but you definitively couldn't choose your family.
OWARI
Giggle, family dynamics.
Started writing: January 20th 2010, 8:16am
Finished writing: January 20th 2010, 1:16am
Started typing: January 21st 2010, 3:18pm
Finished typing: January 21st 2010, 3:51pm