"Hey, bro. Wake up."
A sing-song, northern woodland infused accent flowed over the dark room. The whisper sneaked over from the open doorway toward the queen-sized dark blue bed in front of the shaded windows. The bare shoulders and dark brown helmet of hair that poked out from under the warm sheets ticked up in suprise before nestling onto the soft crater on the bed.
"Yah, yah. What is it?" He said in a slightly higher yet similar voice.
The man with a slender frame and average height strode to the man with his same colored dark hair and grabbed his shoulder before rotating him like a pig on a spindle. The man looked down at the mirror image of himself; a well-defined jaw with flawless porcelain skin and murky dark green eyes, bloodshot from the early morning despair of being alive. "We got the meeting today, right?" The standing twin declared more than asked.
"Oh, right, right. Give me a minute to get dressed. Oh god, Why today?" The man on the bed started to rise up and wiped his stinging and watery eyes.
"They scheduled this at the last one. You forgot?"
"Kev, why can't they do this at , like, night?" asked the man on the bed with a morsel of despair laid on his words.
"They are. It a two hour flight and I wanna go sightseeing."
"But Kev." The twin whined. "We've been there before.
"Like twice, Tommy. Get your clothes on and hop-sing.
"Fine, fine. Just go for a minute."
"What? Why can't I stay."
"Maybe I don't want ya to see me naked for the thousandth time, Kevin."
"Not the first time, and not the last, you goose." The twin named Kevin smirked at his half-naked doppleganger.
"Just be glad I didn't have anyone over last night."
"Just c'mon." Kevin walked over the warm carpet and went past the wooden door as he slammed it, eliciting a groan of annoyance and pain from the man in the dark room.
The copper 1978 Chevy Nova glides on the salt-tinged road that sliced through the white ocean of snow and ice. The flat sea melded onto the horizon, where it met the equally monochromatic sky on the cold winter morning.
For Kevin and Thomas Jones, life was almost too simple. The Dakota twins led a slow, placid lifestyle in the sparsely populated states of North and South Dakota. The two lived together most of the time, unless Kevin (the southern part) needed to go back to his home for countless meetings on national parks, small oil refineries (some of which illegal), and wildlife issues. For Thomas, his daily agenda was almost identical. Naturally, the twins were as close as a sidewalk to the ground. They had stuck together through the early days of their land (a period they couldn't remember with ease) all the way up to their division as official separate states.
They sat in silence while Kevin drove down the empty and narrow road, enjoying the small reprieve from the frosty air. The heater in the car blew out the soothing warm air and filled the slightly cramped cockpit while Thomas nodded his head in fatigue. The car turned onto a gravel road, jolting the two as they bounced on the cool leather seats. The small white jet in front of them grew larger an larger until they parked next to the brown box of a building. They both stumbled out of the car and took their bags out of the backseat, carrying their small bags to the building.
"Hey Tommy, Kevin. Gotcha stuff?" Said the balding old man hunched over the small table cluttered with brochures and old receipts.
"Yah, just throw it onto the plane. And let us know when your ready."
"Sure, just give us a sec. We'll letcha know, the man said."
The twins walked over to the rickety table in front of the window, showing the white private jet sitting in front of the gray backdrop of the northern landscape.
"So, did ya find out about this guy comin' to the meet?"
Yeah, I think it's the, uh, England guy. Arthur something-or-another."
"I thought it was states only like the others, right?
"Yeah, but America guy here says that this guy needs to talk to us. I think it's some sort of joint-committee thingy. Tryna get us involved with foreign issues, since we have nothin else on our plates, right?" Kevin said with sarcasm glazed over his words.
"Who told you that?" Thomas bit his thumbnail and flickered his eyes towards Kevin.
"No one. I just figured."
Thomas put his arm around his brothers slopes shoulders. "Ya know, I noticed we're right about these kinds of things a lot.
"You mean, I'm right."
"Well, point is, y'know we're always...outta the loop on these things, and I guess I just don't get why we keep coming to these things.
"Well, it's not like we haven't felt like this for a while, eh? Only reason we even know about half of these things is Chris, and he's all the way in Saint Paul, y'know." Kevin ruffled his brothers hair.
"I think we should take initiative on this one. Ya know a lot of these people barely know us. Now, We haven't done the best job, but it's been a few months, and I've been thinking," Thomas took a slow breath and looked towards his twin before continuing. "How about we talk at this one. I mean actually talk about stuff and be loud. Y'know, like them. Haven't you ever, like, wanted to know about Florida, or Virginia, or maybe just everyone?"
"Everyone?" Kevin raised his thin, black eyebrows in mock surprise.
"Yah, in a general type way!" Thomas smiled at his brother while he stroked the area above his upper lip, absent of any facial hair.
"I'd love that, Tommy, but it's not like we haven't done that. I mean...think of all these meetings we've had over the past few years. Barely a word to us. There's just somethin' about us. I don't know if its history, our resources, jealousy, our accents. I don't know."
"Yah. It's like we're the ones that aren't on the continent," Thomas nodded.
"And everyone loves Alasky, don't they?" Kevin and Thomas chuckled softly and Kevin coughed. They drifted into a small cloud of silence, taking in the soft rumble of the heater blaring out hot air from the ceiling.
"It's been a while since we've been with another country, though." Thomas said.
"Been a while since we've been with anyone. Unless yer keepin' something from me." Kevin winked at his brother whose mouth opened in exaggerated shock.
"Shut up." Thomas playfully nudged his smirking reflection with his free hand. "Ya know what I mean."
"Yeah, I know. Hey, maybe we should do that!"
"Oh yeah? Ya think so? Last time we got in trouble." Thomas said with a hint of cautious doubt.
Yeah, but we were visiting a whole 'nother place then. We can do anything if we stay in the country, right?" Kevin asked.
"I mean, if we can really get noticed other than being those guys at the back of the room, then sure."
"Oh, I betcha everyone will know who we are if we can get all friendly with the Brit guy. And Mister America would have to notice us, too." Kevin said
"Sound good. We'll talk bout it later on the ride over. I just wanna eat."
"Some pancakes in the vender over there."
"What? In the vender?" Thomas leapt to his feet with a grin etching itself onto his smooth face.
"Yah. Need a buck?"
"I'm good. Jesus Christ! Pancakes everywhere!" Thomas whispered to himself as he shook his head in mock frustration while he power walked to the lighted tower of food.
The conference center in the United Nations building was organized in a large half-circle. The black, reflective long tables stretched in short arches that were interrupted by the narrow paths to the black marble stage in the front. The rabid sounds of the states inside the room assaulted the ears of the silent Dakota twins as they walked in beside each other. Kevin looked up at the red electronic board and saw the time. He turned over to his brother and flicked his eyes to the vacant leather seats in the first row they reached.
The twins examined the people in the room. It appeared they were the last people to arrive, with the exception of the two expected nations. As they sat down, they looked to the glasses-wearing, thin man at the stage arguing in a loud voice at an unseeable person. After all, New York was hosting the meeting, and he was the most visible of the states at the UN. Thomas and Kevin smirked at the flustered states wild arm-waving antics before they heard the crashing of an arm onto the wide double doors right next to them.
"It's okay everyone. Don't get worried! We're here now!" The blue eyed man in a brown bombers jacket shouted, wearing an innocent smile. Next to him was a scowling man in a green uniform with somewhat messy blond hair and bullet thick eyebrows. His arms were crossed as the happier man took his arm and pulled him to the stage, like a cowboy leading a horse to the water fountain.
"Probably him," Thomas said to Kevin. Kevin snorted and rested his head on his smooth hands.
"Kev, how long is this? When can we do something?" Thomas said in a high pitched whine.
"We'll just what till somethin' comes up. Relax!"
"How long is this again?"
"All right, dudes. Thanks for showing up. Glad everyone's here. So lets just get this over with!" Alfred Jones shouted with a charismatic excitement. "I brought England dude over today cause he wants to talk to you all. So sit down and don't fall asleep, guys." Alfred winked at the open space above the states' heads.
Alfred nudged the country next to him that was massaging his forehead. He looked up in surprise and stared at the empty podium before taking a small stride to the wooden international soapbox. He cleared his throat and sighed.
"Okay everybody. This meeting has been...graciously called today so we can announce a brand new program that affects you all." Arthur glared at the absentminded Alfred who was staring off into the endless distance and cleared his throat loudly. Alfred yelped in surprise.
"Anyway, the nations last meeting in Berlin decided that we would try a new project. Because there's been apparent concern from a certain head-of-state of a certain country that will remain anonymous..."Arthur pause to shift his eyes towards Alfred again in impacience.
"...that international policy has not gotten enough support or input from the "smaller jurisdictions" of the countries. Therefore, we have decided to create International Provincial Commitees. These will pair up certain provinces with other countries and have them deal with various international issues." Arthur sighed softly and ran his hands through his bright blonde hair.
"And...because the complaint came from this country, and this country also has the largest number of provinces than any other, that's a fancy word for state by the way, we fell this experiment should...start here." Arthur finished in his native British accent.
"He's totally talking down to us" Kevin's low voice punctured the quiet air to Thomas's ears. Thomas nodded in agreement and grinned toward the flustered nation on the stage.
"So, yeah dudes. You get to be with oth-"
"Excuse me, but I'm talking you bloody git!" Arthur whipped his head towards Alfred and narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Someone gotta lay off the coke." Kevin and Thomas whispered simultaneously. They both stamped out chuckles and shoke their shoulders violently.
"Bottom line!" England shouted to stem the tense air of soft laughter around him. "All of you are paired up, so I will announce who you will work with on what. There are people outside that will point you to the right rooms for your information. When I call your name, please leave and they will direct you. Alright, so we will start with, god these names are weird! Alabaima, is it. Bama. Andrew Jones. You will be on the committee of-."
"Didya hear that, Kev!" Thomas whispered in a frantic stream.
"I feel like we just found the end of the rainbow. We didn't even have to do anything." Kevin wore a grin as long as the Mississippi River.
"Wow, I hope we get stuck with someone good." The two began to trade comments like two tennis players volleying a fuzzy green ball at light-speed.
Your just worried about if they look good."
You are, too" Kevin chuckled at the comment and leaned forward over the table.
"I hope we don't get something stupid, Tommy," Kevin said.
"Yah, they'd probably give us the Sewage committee or something or another."
"They already gave that one. Didn't ya hear?" Kevin said in a rapid fire response.
Thomas looked at his brother with a small frown. "Really? Who got that, ya thin-."
Kevin quickly hushed him. "There's only two more states left to us."
"Oh, god. My stomach is flipping right now."
"I know, Tommy. My back is so tight, y'know."
"We gotta calm down. What if we get all nervous like and mess it up?"
"Quiet! I think it's us!" Kevin whispered faster than a striking rattlesnake.
"Dakota's will be put together like the Carolina's. Both north and south are going to be on the Equal Rights Committee, with H-."
Arthur hopped up like a scared cat when he heard the roar of approval at the back of the room. The dark-brown haired twins lepta up from their seats and hugged each other in ecstasy. They hopped in a cohesive cyclone of joy towards the double doors next to them and pushed their way out of the room. Arthur gaped at the closing door and slammed his head down on the wooden podium, still hearing the mysterious twins yells reverberate beyond the doors.
"Yo, England dude. I haven't seen those two before. You sure that's right?" Alfred patted the slumped shoulders of the tired Englishman.
"I know it's right you git. I'm on the...Equal Rights Committee." Arthur said in a muffled and deflated voice, as if he was told his favorite Monty Python character had died.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. They're excited, dude! Anyway, They're all states, right? They're all like little versions of me, aren't they?" Alfred said with an innocent smile plastered on his face.
Arthur stifled a moan and made his arms go limp by his sides.
Hello everybody and welcome to the story. This is definitely going to be a fun challenge, so any comments, reviews, ideas, suggestions, and anything else would be wonderful. Of course, don't forget to review. It's quick and its and easy way to vent out all of those feelings that you've pent up. Also, tell me your opinion on the main OC's. We haven't really gotten to see their personalities, so keep that in mind. Thanks and see you later.