Making Change
A/N: There's a lot of state oc cameos but most of their speaking parts go unnamed. I've got my own idea about who's speaking, but I'll leave that up to your interpretation. Better authors than me have tried to balance 50+ ocs. Don't take any of this too seriously. All of the info about quarters is accurate though, because I'm a history nerd about the most trivial events. In case the time skips don't make sense, this starts out in 2008 and finishes in 2015.
America sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. On his desk a leaning pile of papers threatened to engulf the desk and America. They were news articles, reports, debriefings, meeting minutes, schedules, proposed legislation, requests, letters. In a word, paperwork. Dreary, dreary paperwork.
"Jeez," America spoke aloud to the empty room, "can't we have some good change and good news for once?" America frowned petulantly at the teetering papers. He sat up suddenly. Wait a second…change! That's it! America opened his laptop and began writing an e-mail.
…
Three weeks later, representatives of all the states and territories gathered in Washington D.C. They milled around the large lobby chatting. Bits of conversation could be heard above the dull roar of talk.
"Hey, whaddaya think of all this?" A tall friendly state asked the others gathered around them.
"Hawaii! Haven't seen you in months! You really gotta visit us mainlanders more often…" An enthusiastic young woman bounced towards the girl.
"Whose keeping an eye on the territories? Are they even allowed at state meetings?" A man side eyed two child sized territories chasing each other. His companion brushed off his questions with a dismissive gesture.
"I swear, if anyone makes one more weed joke I will fight them" A state, apparently Colorado, muttered exasperated.
"Nice weather today, hm?" A mild state asked the general room, oblivious to the loud chaos.
"Ya'll don't wanna mess with MY team!" A southern state started the inevitable sports debate.
"Oh, yeah?" Another state pushed forward aggressively. All the nearby states descended into a bickering mess.
"Ok, ok, guys, chill." America stepped into the room, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "C'mon, I know our official state meeting business doesn't start till tomorrow but I've got a thing to talk about. You all got my e-mail, right?" He waited for the others to agree, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, "Great, this shouldn't take too long." America strode to the front of the room as the states took their seats.
"Is this really a priority? I reckon we've got a lot of problems to deal with, why this?" Before everyone were fully settled, a serious eyed state already began speaking.
"Yeah!" Another state sat up and put his hands on the table. "We may have money issues, but not these types of money issues."
America faced the first state, "Utah," he turned to the second, "Nevada. Everyone. I know we got our share of things to work out and our problems-don't tell the world meeting that-but that's why I think this is a good thing to do. Our old 50 states quarter series is fun and great, and since we just minted the last design recently I think we should plan for another one. You know, blow off some steam, showcase the great and historic places across the nation, all that jazz. Besides, this meeting's not cutting into the serious meeting, and any change to quarter designs isn't gonna be a big deal financially or anything. Any more questions?"
America paused. The states exchanged looks and looked about ready to launch into a discussion. America didn't wait for that to happen. "Awesome. Okay, dudes." He turned on the projector. It immediately showed a slideshow presentation of the many quarter designs. "So we all know about the new designs on the backs of quarters, the series is winding up this year. I really like this idea. It's unique, fun, historical, and just plain awesome. I wanna make this a thing, not just a one off cool collectors thing. If you guys agree now's the time to start planning and figuring out the new designs." America pulled up a schedule. "We can start minting the new coins in 2010, 5 new coins a year just like last time, and keep it going until at least 2021, maybe 2032 or something. How about it, guys?"
"Sounds interesting" One said thoughtfully.
"I dunno, why's it gotta change again?" Another groaned quietly.
"No but guys, guys, think about how cool this would be for people!" A state pointed out.
"Yeah, art and history, we could use it to teach kids! People really looking at coins and collecting them again!" A different state exclaimed. She high fived the state who spoke before her.
"It'll confuse the hell out of foreigners-making quarters all look different." A wicked grin spread across another state's face. "I love it."
"Wait-free tourism advertisement!" The rest of the debate became unintelligible as the meeting hall descended into enthusiastic babbling. America grinned widely. His plan worked, everyone was excited about something instead of being stressed or upset or sad. The loud discussion was like music to his ears. A sharp dispute broke out in one corner. Ah. Well, it was only a matter of time. America thought as he hurried over to break things up and get everyone on topic again.
"Sounds like everyone's on board-" America was interrupted by a kid's hand waving for attention. "Yes, Puerto Rico?"
"Are we gonna get quarters too?" Puerto Rico asked. The other territories around him nodded. "You sent us the e-mail but we just wanna be sure you're gonna let us be a part of this at least."
America nodded. "Yep. You guys were part of the last quarter series, after all. So yeah, just to be clear, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana, Guam, Samoa, D.C., you all get your own quarter design." The kids turned to each other excitedly.
"Like I was saying. Since everyone's on board we can just go ahead with this. That's great, because I already though of an awesome name for the series- 'America the Beautiful'," A few states rolled their eyes at the overused sentence but the rest nodded approvingly. "You know the design rules, no portraits, state flags or seals, or controversial or offensive things." He gave long looks at a few specific states and held up his hand before the argument could start. "I don't care if you don't think there's offensive, if there's a debate about whether something may be offensive it's out. Remember, I've got the final say in the designs so don't think you can sneak something past the Treasury. If you really have no ideas, landmarks and stuff associated with your state's always a good place to start." America stepped back, ready for questions.
"Hey." A state leaned on the long table and pointed at the projector. "What's up with this schedule? Why's Arkansas first? This isn't alphabetical or chronological at all."
"Yeah. I guess I kinda got why you put Delaware first last time," The talking state gestured towards a man sitting unobtrusively, "You know, entering the union timeline and all, but there's literally no reason behind this." America shrugged carefree.
"Hey, don't get mad just because I'm always first." Delaware spoke softly but with a small smirk.
"Shut up Delaware, nobody cares, I'm cooler than you anyways." One of Delaware's neighbors said.
Delaware spoke again, "See, it's this type of argumentative nature that made you almost the last state to join us in the beginning. You couldn't just ratify the Constitution, could you?"
"Hey, don't start Mr. follower-not-a-leader. Who asked you, anyways?" The same northeastern state said.
"Dudes, dudes," America placated the states. "Anyways, that's all I've got to say, ya'll can talk it all out now. Try to get designs to me in the next year or so. And remember, our actual meeting starts tomorrow at 10-morning not night, don't think you can get away with that one again-so I hope you're all ready." America took his seat and leaned back to listen to the unfolding discussion.
"Hey, whatcha putting on?"
"Is there any other choice than Yosemite?"
"I feel you sis, I've got Yellowstone."
"Maybe I should use a battleground"
"Yeah, man, it's got to be historic."
"National parks always work well. Always."
"I'm gonna use Ellis Island."
"Fuck of Jersey, that's mine and you know it."
"You can go straight back to hell, York, your only good city's really mine and I will use its image however I want." New York tackled New Jersey. The two continued fighting, spitting insults and curses. The others mostly ignored them, far too used to their constant bickering.
"Oh, but there's so many awesome places I could use." A younger state looked off dreamily.
"Whatever I'm using, it won't be my state flower or state animal or whatever. Those were so overused last time," scoffed a darker state.
"Yeah, same thing with the shape of the state thing." The state sitting next to him agreed.
"Oh, I'm sure it must be tough, being a square." A state sitting across the table insulted the other state.
"You're just mad your borders don't make sense." The other state responded sharply.
"Whatever you say, blockhead," was the flippant response.
"Ugh, I've had enough of this." A different state muttered to her companion.
"Same. Let's go eat, there's a great place just a few blocks away from here." He responded and pushed back his chair.
America stood up again. "Food sounds great. I know that's where I'm going. See ya suckers." America jauntily waved and left. The rest of the states flowed out of the doors and broke off into smaller groups.
D.C. walked up behind America. "That'll keep them busy for a while. Good. They were getting pretty antsy."
America nodded. "I don't blame them. It's been a pretty rough year, especially with this recession. And our new boss seems pretty decent, but you know elections like these can't help but get people riled up. I just wish it wasn't for such a dumb superficial reason. Guess our history's not as past as it seems."
D.C. tilted her head in agreement. "Yeah, but it'll be good for them. Looking at their pasts. This whole coin thing is pretty much like a personality test for us, you know. I wonder what they'll end up choosing."
America gave her a wide grin far too cheerful considering the political and economic turmoil surrounding him. "Yep! Should be interesting." Something caught his eye. "Oh, hey, I need to talk to them. Gotta dash, D.C., see ya!" America ran after the retreating back of a state. D.C. shook her head at his youthful antics.
"Honestly, you'd never guess he's over twice my age and dealing with a lot. Damn housing bubble." She muttered to herself before leaving the meeting hall herself.
…
It took several weeks for New York to get around to really thinking about quarter designs. She stumbled into her room, barely able to see in the dark night over her armful of papers. New York dumped a pile of reference pics and ideas her people and boss had submitted onto her desk and turned on a lamp. "Ok…ok…gotta think of the best idea ever. Gotta show 'em all how great my state is. Hmmm." New York talked to herself as she sorted through the disorganized mess and pulled out a sketchbook. "Landmarks…hmm, well, everyone knows about Niagara Falls." She doodled a picture of a waterfall. "Actually I have a lot of waterfalls, I should be the waterfall state-focus, gotta focus." New York filled a few more pages with rough drawings of waterfalls both famous and not.
"Ugh, now they all just look the same. What about the city? Nothing more New York than New York City?" New York chewed on the pencil's eraser as it hung above a clean sheet of paper. "No…I used the Statue of Liberty last time, and Jersey's doing something with the city. I just know that bastard's trying to claim NYC as his again. That "gateway to freedom" bit was good though…maybe I should try something historical?"
Her pencil started moving. "Erie canal? Nah. Besides, that already showed up on the old one. Oh, I could do something with Henry Hudson and his expedition, nice guy, delusional about that whole Northwest Passage thing but hey, we all make mistakes. Getting distracted again. Probably should've not done this at four in the morning." New York rambled quietly to herself as the image of boats on the Hudson river took shape.
New York glanced up at the recommendations she had gotten from the governor. "Might as well look at this." She picked up the top page and made a face. "New York Federal Building? Hell no, this place looks like every place with columns and a triangle on top. Not cool enough either. If I was gonna use this I might as well use my capital building." She shook her head with all the seriousness of a slightly sleep deprived person. "And that's basically admitting that the only interesting thing in your entire state is your capital building." New York crumpled up the recommendation into a ball and threw it behind her. It missed the trash can by about five feet.
"Ugh." New York put her head on the cool wood. "What do I do? Something from upstate or the city? A national park? No, it'd only be trees and shale, can't compete with those crazy big parks out west. Got those Appalachians, maybe that…or the Finger Lakes." New York muttered about geography for a few more seconds before sitting up again.
"No. History's the way to go. Show them all the long grand history of New York." New York sat up with resolution, pencil poised. "Was the national capital once…no, it'll only look like I'm bitter and my glory days are past." She tapped the pencil against her chin. "I'm the center of change and advancement. Hey, what about the Seneca Falls convention? Women's Right Movement? Show them that history doesn't belong to stuffy old men." New York sketched the building that held the convention along with other designs with the women involved. She paused as she realized something. "Ooooh, wait, can't do a portrait of people. And if the people are any smaller can't tell who they are."
New York frowned and turned to a clean page. "I'll just draw battles, those are good ones, especially if they've got a real historic location. Right, got this." She paused in thought. "Hmm, not many battles actually happened on my land. Things didn't get that far north in the Civil War except for-" She broke off as images of a horrible POW camp flashed through her mind, a place more for dying than holding prisoners. New York shook her head and cast away memories of Hellmira. "Okay, not Civil War, then, what about the Revolutionary one?" A slow smile spread across her face. "Oh, yes, I know just the thing." Her pencil went to work.
…
The next day found New York knocking on her boss's door, sketchbook in hand. The governor looked through the scribbly notes and concept art. New York flipped near to the back. "I personally like this one." Her boss looked it over thoughtfully. "Last time I designed a quarter the Battle of Saratoga was one of the five seriously considered as well. I prefer this design."
The governor nodded. "We'll have to talk it over more when there's more concrete art and details, but yes, I'll take it into consideration. However, do you think…you're kind of people will be insulted by this?" The governor looked uncomfortable talking about the other nation personifications.
New York brushed it off. "Nah, Britain's an adult and can handle himself. Besides, this is about celebrating mine and America's history." It's not like this is the first time one of his former colonies rubbed Britain's lost empire in his face anyways. New York didn't say the last bit out loud. Her boss was convinced.
She walked back to her office. In the privacy of the small room she looked at the sketch she had made a day or two ago. One hand relinquished a sword to another in defeat. The words "Saratoga, 1777, British Surrender" were scrawled around it. New York smirked.
….
On her free time-which was more scarce than normal-New York preoccupied herself with finalizing the quarter image. Progress was going well, and soon she was ready to present the image to America.
"Okay, York? What do you got for me?" America said in a light friendly tone.
"I've got my finalized design here for the new quarter series." She passed a manila folder to her older brother.
His eyes lit up and he smiled. "Great! I really want to release the finalized designs to the public soon." He opened the folder. New York patiently waited for his response. He looked up, a mischievous look on his face. "This is your final decision? You're not joking me, right?"
New York responded with a similar look. "Yep, this is it. Why, you got a problem with it?" Her words carried a hint of a challenge.
America put his hands up in mock surrender. "No, of course not."
New York nodded satisfied. "Good, because it fits all your requirements. You can't even argue it's even slightly controversial."
America shook his head. "Yeah, but you know I've got to ask, what made you choose the Battle of Saratoga?"
New York stood up straighter. "Are you challenging my decision and the importance of the Battle of Saratoga?" She said in pretend indignation. "Well, as you know, Saratoga was a turning point in our Revolutionary War. First time people started taking us seriously. France never would've given us a cent if we hadn't proven ourselves here. You were there, you know how it was. The dream of freedom first actually seemed possible then. And I have a historical site dedicated for this, not like most of those hit and run battles, so it's technically a thing for the Saratoga National Historical Park. Besides, remember how because of this battle the Congressional Congress declared a Thanksgiving for the first time? This is a big deal." New York finished her monologue.
America nodded. "You really thought about this. Good. Well, I approve, we can just send this off to the Treasury."
"I also thought it was kinda funny how I'm the Empire State, and this battle was me-well, us-striking a real blow against the biggest empire in the world." New York added.
"Yeah, pretty cool." America huffed a laugh. "Well, great, got that done."
"Yeah, now I've just got to wait forever for them to go into circulation." New York snapped finger guns at America and began to walk out of the room backwards. "Catch ya later."
…
A few years passed until 2015 with no new incident. The newly minted coins quietly entered circulation. Every time a new quarter design was minted, a fresh, uncirculated coin was sent to all the states and territories. On the day a New York Battle of Saratoga quarter arrived in the mail, New York grinned. Not long now.
Mere months after the New York coin began circulation, New York's plans came to fruition. The world meeting was being held on the east coast. New York grabbed a bag she had been saving for this situation, got in her car, and drove to the meeting room. It wasn't too far away, just a state or two.
By the time she got there, the meeting was well underway. She strode into the lobby with confidence. She wasn't expecting to see anyone there, but D.C. sat there. Then again, it was very near Washington D.C., and America and D.C. often worked together on politics, so it wouldn't surprise her if they had decided to do a bit more work or something. New York paused. D.C. looked up. "Hello, New York, what brings you here today?" D.C. scanned New York quickly. Her eyes crinkled in the corners in thought. "Don't tell me you've got a little confrontation planned here." Of course America told D.C. about New York's coins, and of course D.C. figured it out that quick.
"Maybe." New York said. She lifted her small bag. "Just got a little gift for Britain here. I'm sure he won't mind me delivering them right now." New York hoped D.C. caught her insinuation, and hoped she would be easily convinced to her side.
D.C. may have been America's second in command, and mature enough to handle that responsibility, but she was still an American. Mischief and pranks, especially with Britain as the victim, were very appealing. Besides, D.C. has her own history and reason to not sympathize with Britain. New York was banking on all this being enough to get D.C's cooperation.
Sure enough, D.C. nodded slowly, a look of false innocent consideration on her face. "Oh, yes, we can't let Britain here feel forgotten, after all." She stepped closer to New York and lowered her tone just a little, "And too bad I wasn't here to stop you at that moment. Although, it would take me a little less than five minutes for me to notice the new commotion and deal with it." D.C. gave New York a significant look and a hint of a smile. New York nodded her understanding and walked past D.C., who sat down and began acting like absolutely nothing had happened.
New York prowled down the stately hallway. Loud, but muffled sounds of arguing and general chaos escaped from a doorway halfway down. New York stopped at the door and prepared herself. Before she could give her half formed plan-she hadn't really thought she'd make it this far-a second thought she was moving.
New York burst through the doors. The meeting's organization had broken down, but it hadn't yet dissolved into physical fights. "WHOO!" New York yelled. Everyone stared at her, momentarily distracted. "GET WRECKED BRITAIN!" She threw a handful of coins at Britain's stunned, angry face before kicking an empty chair, just because she could, and storming out of the room one hand raised in a fist. "NEW YORK OUT!" She yelled. The heavy doors slammed behind her.
She quickly left, no point in sticking around for Britain's indignant anger and America's possible disapproval. She gave D.C. a salute, which D.C. returned.
Back in the meeting, Britain spluttered angrily at America. He wasn't really paying attention, but he's pretty sure it began with something like "Control you're bloody states you git-". He picked up one of the coins that rolled his way and began laughing. Britain looked at the coins in his lap. "Saratoga, British Surrender, 1777? How rude!" Britain exclaimed.
"America, why does this coin not look like your other coins?" Italy held up one of the quarters. America laughed harder, remembering the confusing the foreigners bit from the first meeting years ago.
He stopped and looked around at the room filled with confused and amused-and one angry-faces. He took a deep breath. "Okay, so let me tell you about the states quarters…" he began.
…
New York anticipated the knock at her door that night. "Wow, America, what brings you to my neck of the woods tonight?" She said as she let him in.
"Oh, you'll never guess what happened at today's meeting." He played along.
"If you're gonna yell at me, I just want to say one thing-I don't regret anything." New York leveled a defiant look at America.
He shook his head. "Nah, I'm not going to scold you. That was hilarious! Probably the best thing to happen in one of those meetings in years. Ugh, they get so boring, even the fighting isn't that interesting after a while." They sat down on her couch. "But I've got to ask, how long were you planning this?"
New York tilted her head. "This isn't why I picked this design, if that's what you're asking. Even if I was thinking about Britain's reaction to it, you know our people have a lot of say in the quarter design. I just used my cool coins to send Britain a message."
"Oh, what message?" America looked at New York with curious eyes.
New York put her feet up on the coffee table. "Fuck off, Britain." They laugh a little.
America ended the moment of comfortable quiet. "Really though, you should've seen Britain's face! Priceless. And then I had to explain a ton about the quarters. You sure riled everyone up."
"Hah, wish I got a picture, the look of utter surprise!" New York recalled, laughing.
America nodded. "Yeah, although you could've been less melodramatic about it."
New York chuckled. "I guess in retrospect it's kind of weird and overly dramatic." America shrugged in response. "By the way, you're my witness when I tell this story to the others."
America laughed. "Deal. Jeez, this coin series thing was a better idea than I thought it would be." He said.