Once they were all back in Kate's house, Star looked around at the people gathered there. "Well," She said, "We all made it back, that's a good thing."
Kate looked at the others. The generals appeared to be getting slightly more used to the sudden transport-via-Thingy, but the nations...
Canada was squeezing Kumajiouro to the point where the bear seemed rather less than happy, his face white from confusion and fright.
Prussia stared blankly around the room, until his brain seemed to catch up with the rest of him, and he started cursing loudly in German. At least, Katie thought it was cursing, from what she knew of his personality and what little grasp she had of the language.
Glancing at the two nations, Star decided that she really didn't care all that much about them and so pushed the Southern General down into a nearby chair and sat down happily next to him, deciding to watch how her friend took care of the situation instead of saying anything.
Kate stared at Prussia for a minute, who didn't seem to be slowing down at all. She decided that she would deal with him later, so she just snapped, "Shut up!" Prussia actually did, although it was probably more from surprise than anything else. Satisfied with that, Kate went over to Canada.
"I'm sorry..." She said, "I didn't want to do that."
From her spot sitting almost on top of Armistead, Hancock sitting in a chair a few feet away, Star looked over at Prussia and smiled faintly at him, not sure what to say.
Canada seemed to relax slightly, at least enough to stop crushing his bear. "W- where are we?" He asked.
"My place," Kate explained. "It's kind of a long story. And a really bad idea..." She was starting to seriously regret even making the Thingy in the first place.
Looking over to Prussia, who still seemed to be in shock, she added, "Um... I'm not going to force any of you to stay here, though. If you want to leave, you can just tell me and I'll let you."
"Why don't we let them see what they think of our world first?" Star suggested.
"Wait, what do you mean, world?" Prussia asked, finally speaking.
Kate shrugged. "Um. World like alternate universe. The nations don't have human forms here, for a start." After a second's hesitation, she added, "You might want to go by your human names as long as you're here."
"I have work..." Canada mumbled. "I can't stay here long..."
Kate glanced at him. "I can send you back to your own world at any time. I mean, like, I could have it so you came back, like, a second after you left even if you stayed here for a really long time. And I'm pretty sure the continuity generators would have it so there's no real difference between you being there and you being here. Like, you're there still but you're in two different - eh. I give up."
"Basically we are in two places at once?" Armistead asked.
"Um... yeah, sort of. But not really. It's complicated." Kate tried to explain.
"Wait, does that mean that I don't have to do any work?" Prussia asked.
Kate gave him an odd look. "But... you're not really a nation anymore... Did you even have to work in the first place?"
Prussia shrugged. "West made me help him with paperwork sometimes."
Canada smiled slightly, knowing that Prussia really spent most of his time sitting around Germany's house and playing video games. And although he didn't quite trust the sound of those 'continuity generators' or whatever they were, he didn't mind having at least some time without the stress of being a Nation.
"So..." Star looked around at everyone. "What do we do now?"
Kate hesitated. "Hold on a second!" She pointed to the generals and Prussia. "If we go walking around, the uniforms are going to be a bit of a problem. Star's fine because the whole neighborhood knows she's a nutcase, but there is definately a need for a change of clothes here."
Star looked down at her uniform jacket which she had pulled on over her t-shirt. "If I can go around wearing a uniform, I don't see why Win and Lo can't."
Kate sighed in frustration, before walking over to her friend and taking off the uniform jacket. She was glad that she knew her friend would be wearing a shirt underneath, or she'd have been too weirded out to even consider the idea. "There. No uniforms. Problem solved."
"Hey!" Star protested when the uniform was taken off. "There's nothing wrong with uniforms!"
Prussia agreed. "Uniforms are awesome! Especially on me."
Kate rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you people. If we're going anywhere in public, you'd look damn silly with military uniforms. Especially-" she looked at the three men, "-Horribly outdated uniforms. No matter how awesome they might look," she added to Prussia.
"The uniform is the only clothes I have," Armistead said and Hancock nodded in agreement.
Kate stopped and stared at the generals. She hadn't thought about that. Then again, the two men seemed to be about the same size... "Hold on a second!" She called before running out of the room. She returned a moment later with a few shirts. "I think these might fit you."
Armistead looked at the shirts. "Where did you get these?"
"They're my dad's," Kate replied cheerfully. "I'm guessing they're about the right size." She glanced over to Prussia. Her father's clothes wouldn't fit him - the nation was about half a foot shorter than him. Kate paused for a moment. "I wonder..." she said, before rushing off again, this time in a different direction.
Star, Armistead and Hancock watched her disappear in that direction before Armistead looked down at the shirt in his hand. "You could go in there." Star pointed in the direction of the bathroom. She had a basic idea of the way around her friends house.
Standing up, Armistead disappeared into the other room and Star watched him until he disappeared from sight behind the closed door.
"I think this might fit," Kate said, reentering the room with another shirt - this time a t-shirt instead of the button-up shirts her dad generally wore.
Prussia raised an eyebrow at this girl who seemed to be pulling various items of clothing from all over the place. "And this belonged to...?" He asked.
Kate shrugged. "It's mine, but I never wore it because it's a bit big on me."
Not taking her eyes off of the door Armistead had disappeared into, Star didn't say anything. She was partly wondering what Armistead would look like when he was out of uniform.
Prussia wasn't at all surprised by the girl having men's clothes that were her own - after all, he had grown up with Hungary. He was just a little bit confused as to why she was so willing to let him borrow them for an indefinate period of time. He decided it was because he was just that awesome. Not really caring who saw, he started taking off his uniform top.
Kate noticed the direction of her friend's gaze. She'd figured, when one of the generals missing, that the girl had directed him to a different room to change. Kate sighed and lightly slapped her friend upside the head. "Pervert."
Star jumped in surprise and looked at her. "What? I'm waiting for Lo to come back."
"Oh, of course you are, S-eep!" Kate squeaked slightly and blushed when she noticed that there was a shirtless Prussia in the middle of the room. There was something to be said about the former nation - he had kept in shape...
Prussia noticed the girl's blush. "What? Too awesome for you?" He asked, causing Kate to blush even more. Canada just rolled his eyes from his place on the end of the couch, used to Prussia's attitude.
Hancock looked at them, not really sure what to say. He didn't approve of Prussia changing in the middle of the room, and was waiting for Armistead to be finished in the bathroom before changing out of his uniform.
It was then that the door did open, and Armistead reappeared, wearing the shirt that had been given to him, and the black pants of his uniform, which when Star looked at him, she didn't think went as well as they did with the uniform. But she didn't say anything, just jumped up from the chair and watched him walk back.
Prussia pulled on the t-shirt, plain green with some sarcastic sentence on it. It actually went pretty well with the dark navy uniform pants. I'm not staring, I'm totally not staring, Kate thought to herself, over and over as she tried to not stare.
Armistead came back to where the rest of them were, looking over at Hancock. "Your turn Win."
The younger general stood up and disappeared into the bathroom and Armistead sat down, Star immently jumping onto the arm of the chair next to him, as she continued to stare at him.
Kate noticed that, despite herself, Canada was being ignored again. No, not Canada. They would be using human names in this world. Matthew, then. Although it was sadly easy to forget about Matthew, especially when there was such an attention hog as Pru- no, Gilbert around. She sat next to the blonde. "Sorry for ignoring you. You okay?" She asked.
Matthew nodded. "It's okay, I'm used to it. And I think... I'm starting to get used to the idea of staying here. For a little while, at least.
Gilbert collapsed into a chair. "Hey, no work. I think I'm going to like it here."
"What are we going to do now?" Star asked, tearing her gaze from Armistead for a moment as Hancock returned from changing and joined them in the room.
Kate looked at the assembled group for a minute or so, trying to figure out what they should do. Her dad's clothes, while much more normal-looking than the Civil War era uniforms, weren't a perfect fit for the two generals. She definitely needed to get new clothes for those two, at least. She glanced over at Prussia - Gilbert! - and decided that he needed at least a few outfits as well.
Kate stared at Star, hoping to attract her attention, and said, "We need to go shopping."
"Why?" Star asked, looking at her in surprise. "What do we need?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "Maybe some clothes that'll actually fit these guys, for a start?"
Star shrugged. "I still don't think the uniforms are a problem."
Kate resisted the urge to bash her head against the nearest wall. "I know you don't..." she muttered. Out loud, she continued, "But we can't have them wearing the same outfit for however long we're going to be chilling here."
Once again she shrugged as she started to stare at Lo again. "In the army they would wear the same uniform almost all the time."
"Which is gross," Kate said bluntly. This earned a small laugh from both Gilbert and Matthew.
"You would have died in the 1600s, then," Gilbert said mildly.
"Yes, yes I would have. Quite painfully, probably." Kate agreed.
"It's the 1800's," Star said.
Gilbert raised an eyebrow at the other girl. "I wasn't talking about their time. Actually, I think the 1300s would have been hell for you," He added. "Hah. Good times..."
Matthew just shook his head slightly.
"I think the 1800 are wonderful," Star said, "Because back then some really amazing people were alive."
She grinned at Lo. "Starting on February 18, 1817 when Lo was born."
Gilbert shrugged. "The 1800s were okay, I guess. If you disregard that whole France-being-an-asshole bit in the beginning."
"The 1800s were pretty good for me..." Matthew said quietly, hugging Kumajiro.
Kate grinned. "I'll stick to my own century, thanks."
"You are from the 1800's as well?" Hancock asked, appearing to be slightly confused. "But I thought you said you were fromt he 1300's..."
Gilbert laughed at the American general. "You really aren't that observant, are you?" He asked.
Kate sighed and stood up, walking to the center of the room. "Okay, you apparently didn't get the memo. Gilbert, over here, is Prussia. Matthew is Canada. We're all clear on that?"
There was silence in the room for a moment as Hancock stared at her. "What?"
"They're countries, Win." Armistead smiled faintly. Star had already explained it to him earlier, before they'd been caught by Germany.
Hancock stared at them. "Has everyone here lost their mind?"
Kate shrugged. "Let me try again. Gilbert is basically the human embodiment of Prussia. Except back in the 1300s, he was a Teutonic Knight?" She glanced over at the albino, who nodded. "Okay, I got that right. Then he became Prussia and then Prussia got dissolved - "
"You don't have to rub it in..." Gilbert muttered.
" - So I don't really know what he is now. And Matthew's Canada." Kate finished, ignoring the interruption.
"Clearly," Gilbert proclaimed from his seat, "I am the embodiment of awesome."
Still, Hancock stared blankly at them. "That's impossible."
"I always though time travel was impossible too..." Armistead said, glancing at all of them. "But that's happened, so I believe you."
Hancock stared at him. "Then you've lost your mind too."
Kate, Gilbert, and Matthew all exchanged glances. Matthew shrugged. "It's not that important, really..." he said, as quiet as ever.
Kumajiro looked up at the person cuddling him. "Who are you?"
"I'm Canada..." Matthew mumbled, more out of habit than anything. Kate started cracking up.
As Hancock continued to stare, Star glance over at Kate. "I thought we were going shopping. Did you change your mind?"
Kate shook her head. "No, I didn't. We just got sidetracked." She looked around the room at the others. "I think we can fit in the car... It's going to be a bit cramped, though."
"SHOTGUN!" Gilbert shouted before anyone else could speak.
"I'm sitting next to Lo!" Star said.
Kate laughed quietly. Really, she hadn't expected anything different. "All right, fine. But first, rules. One, it's my car. I'm driving. Two, we're headed to the mall. You know how expensive it can get, Star. Try to keep on budget. Three, let's not attract too much attention to ourselves, hmm?"
"So we are in America," Canada commented. "I thought so."
Star nodded. "Right... But what is the budget?"
Kate blinked. "Um. Let me check." With that, she rushed off to her room. There was a short period of silence, and then her voice came floating back, "I have about eighty bucks and a thirty dollar gift certificate to Sears... And I think there's still some money left on this Hot Topic gift card..." She returned with a wallet in hand.
"Alright." Star nodded again.
Canada raised his hand slightly. "Um. I have some American money. I think it's about 50 dollars?"
Kate stared at him. "...Why are you carrying that much money with you?"
"Have you met my brother?"
"Good point," the girl conceded. "So that's... Somewhere between 160 and 180 bucks..."
"That should be more then enough," Star stated, glancing over at Armistead and Hancock who were staring at them. She knew what they were thinking, that much money was worth more in their day.
Kate shrugged. "Remember, we're buying for four people here. We have to keep to the minimum."
Gilbert reclined on the chair and muttered something in German.
"I will pretend that I didn't understand that," Kate said, her tone exactly the same as it had been a second ago.
Gilbert blinked in surprise, and Kate looked around. "So. We have a plan, for once. Time to go?"
Star nodded. "Yup, time to go."
She grinned towards were Lo and Win were sitting. "Shall we introduce them to the car?"
Kate grinned. "Oh, boy, this could be interesting..." She paused, realizing something, and looked over to Matthew. "Kumajiro's going to have to stay here... is that okay?"
Matthew nodded. "Yeah, it's fine." He gently put the polar bear down.
"Okay then. Let's go," Kate walked through the house, followed by the two Nations.