When they reached Canada's house, Star looked around, then glanced over at Armistead who was the doing the very same thing. Then she grinned. "Great! We're here."
Canada smiled slightly, not used to having so many people in his house at once. "Well… it won't do much good to stand around, right?" He asked.
Prussia answered for the group. "Of course not!" He shouted. "We must prepare for what is to be the most awesome party of all time, because I am NOT going to let Matthew sit around and host a lame party while I'm here!"
Kate stared at the two of them. Canada shrugged.
Star continued to grin, amused by Prussia. "How can I help?" She asked, looking around the house some more, eager for the party to start. And if helping them helped the party to start sooner, then she was going to do that.
Canada seemed slightly taken aback by the question, used to a friend who would just go off and take over all the party preparations himself – actually, Prussia had already left the area – and a brother who would just sit around and let him do all the work. He wasn't sure how to react to someone asking to help. "Well… Um…"
Kate looked around. The house was pretty much spotless (which actually made a bit of sense once she thought about it), so offering to clean was a bit beside the point. "How about we figure out decorations?" She offered.
Canada smiled, grateful for the assist. "Yes, that could work."
Ignoring the suggestion completely, Star took off after Prussia, who was on the phone setting up invitations for the party and lounging on the couch like he owned the place. "Gilbert!" she said, hopping onto the couch next to him. "Are you calling Ludwig?!"
Prussia covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "What?" He asked. Then, not bothering to wait for an answer, he turned back to the conversation. "So yeah, Francis. Mattie's place in a few hours. And tell Antonio while you're at it, okay?"
"Are you going to call Ludwig?" Star asked, getting from the part of the conversation that she'd heard that he was talking to France, and not Germany.
Prussia stared at the girl for a minute. "As I seem to remember," He said, a highly sarcastic tone entering his voice, "You managed to convince dear West that you were related to Italy. And then you didn't seem to happy when you ran into him and the awesome me. And now you want him to show up?" He started dialing another number into the phone, again not waiting for a response.
"Yes…" Star said, nodding. "I knew that he was upset then after he realized Lo and I weren't related to Italy. And I really didn't want to see him when he was upset at what we did. But you think enough time has passed now that he won't be angry at us right? Because I want to talk to him and spend time with him!"
Prussia gave Star an odd look. "You're sounding just like Italy." Putting the phone up to his ear, he said, "Hey, West! You're going to a party later." After a brief pause, he said, "Yes, you are. Because I told you to. It's at Canada's place in a few hours." Another pause. "CANADA. You know, the guy who makes the awesome pancakes?" Pause. "Fine, then I'll tell Italy that you didn't want to go to a party with him." This pause, there was a smirk on Prussia's face. Apparently he had won. "Great. What? OF COURSE I'M BACK, YOU IDIOT!"
Star grinned when she heard that, listening to Prussia talk to his brother. "Are you going to tell him what happened?" She asked, "And when's Ludwig going to show up?!"
Prussia didn't notice Star's comment, too busy flinging insults in German down the line. Eventually, he seemed to grow tired of it, and settled with, "Ugh. Fine. Oh, and bring Gilbird with you, okay? I kinda miss the little guy."
"Can I say hi to him?" Star asked eagerly, staring at Prussia as he continued to talk to his brother.
"Hmm? Oh, that? That's just the crazy girl who said she was Italy's sister or whatever. You get used to her eventually. Okay, now I have to go tell other people about the party. And if you don't show up, I'll send Francis after you or something."
"Please?" Star asked, "Can I say hello…?"
She wanted to get to talk to Germany, and wasn't patient enough to wait for the party to begin in a few hours, although she doubted that she was actually going to get the phone.
She was right. Prussia hung up the phone, and then stared at the keypad again. "Hmm… I've got Francis and Antonio and West, and if they're going then that means that Feliciano's going to be there. And there's no way Antonio would go anywhere without Romano." Completely ignoring Star, he stared into space for a moment before another idea struck. "Aha!" He started dialing another number.
"Are you going to invite Alfred?" Star asked. Seeing that it was Canada's house they were having the party at, it made sense for America to be there.
"Hey, England, party at Canada's house in a few hours. Be there or be even less awesome than you normally are, okay? Good." After he hung up on that extremely short conversation, he glanced over at Star. "…Actually, that might be a good idea. I don't think Matt would be too happy if I didn't invite his brother." With that statement, he called America. "America! It's Prussia. Party at Mattie's place, okay? A few hours. Just show up whenever. Okay. Bye."
Star just listened to the conversations while Prussia continued to call the other nations.
--
Meanwhile, in the other room, Canada had enlisted Kate and Armistead to help set up speakers. Armistead, however, was just staring at them, not having any idea what he was supposed to be doing. "What are these things?" He asked.
Canada glanced back at Armistead. Of course he wouldn't know what they were, he wasn't from the right time for that. "They're just speakers. They… make certain sounds louder?" he tried for an explanation.
"Red wire goes to the red thingy, right?" Kate asked from behind one of the larger speakers.
"…Yes."
The explanation from Canada just made Armistead more confused, and he stared blankly at the speakers. "Maybe I should just let you two set them up?" He suggested. "Where did Star go? Maybe I could help with whatever she's doing?"
"Knowing Star, she's probably just pestering Prussia to let her talk to Germany or something. Crazy woman," Kate muttered, trying to untangle a clump of wires.
"Why does she want to talk to Germany?" Armistead asked, remembering when he'd met the nation when they'd come to get Canada. He couldn't understand how Star hadn't really wanted to talk to him then all of sudden seemed to want to talk to him.
Kate finally managed to untangle the wires, with Canada's help. "Because… is this blue or purple?"
"It's blue," Canada said, somewhat amused. "There are no purple wires."
"I could have sworn it was purple. Why are these things so complicated again?" Kate then remembered herself. "Oh, right. It's because Star is a rabid fangirl that makes me look normal in most situations by comparison. I can only think of…" Kate trailed off, counting something silently on her fingers. "Three people that would make me fangirl to the point where she looks normal."
Armistead was silent for a moment, giving up on being any sort of help with the speakers. "How many people does she fangirl at?"
The speaker Kate was working on suddenly blared with the high-pitched whine of feedback. "I FIXED IT!" She shouted over the noise, turning it off immediately. Canada winced at the sudden noise.
Kate frowned, considering Armistead's question despite the distractions. "Um. I'm not exactly sure. Two, maybe three." Kate shrugged. "As opposed to me. I fangirl at far too many people, and I figure that evens out the fan-obsessiveness to a reasonable level for each one. So I don't flip out completely…"
"Then…" Armistead thought for a moment. "I'm one of them, aren't I?"
Canada, who had been watching the conversation with some amusement, looked towards Kate as she grinned embarrassedly. "Yeah… pretty much." Then a thought seemed to hit the girl, and she turned toward Canada with almost frightening speed. "Oy, Matt!"
Canada blinked in surprise. "…Yes?"
"I know Russia's kind of your friend and everything, but…" she trailed off uncertainly. "He's not going to show up, right?
"I think Prussia's taken over the invitations," Canada answered, confused about the sudden question. "And I probably wouldn't invite him as long as Prussia's here, anyway. They really don't get along."
Armistead just watched them, not knowing what else to say, then shrugged and turned from the room and walked off in the direction that he'd seen Star take off in earlier, coming into the room where Prussia was on the phone. He paused in the doorway, watching in silence for a moment.
It didn't take Star very long to notice him and she grinned. "Lo! Hi!"
He smiled faintly and stepped into the room, sitting down beside Star on the opposite end of the couch as Prussia. "Star, I was just talking with Kate. Do you know why she doesn't want Russia to come to the party?"
Star stared at him blankly for a moment. "She doesn't want Russia to come to the party?" She said, slightly surprised. "But she's a Russia fangirl…"
"WHAT?!" Gilbert said, completely interrupting his current telephone conversation. "Sorry, Japan, have to go. Tell China and Korea about the party for me, okay? Thanks." He slammed the receiver back into the cradle with slightly more violence than was necessary and turned on Star. "What did you just say?!"
"I said…" Star paused for a moment, realizing what she had said and who she was talking to. "Um… Pretend you didn't hear that, Gilbert."
Armistead didn't say anything, taken by surprise by Prussia's reaction and not having any idea what was going on.
Red eyes narrowed in what could only be described as 'pure fury'. "You were talking about Kate, right?"
Star stared at him for a moment, suddenly concerned for her friend's safety. "Well…" There wasn't anything to do about it, she'd already said something that she shouldn't have said when Prussia was in the room. "Yes…"
Prussia immediately stormed out of the room, followed by a curious Armistead and a worried Star. When Kate looked up and noticed him standing in the doorway of the room she and Canada had been working in, she squeaked. "…Canada shield!" she called out, grabbing Canada and hiding behind him.
Something had pissed Prussia off, and Kate could sense that she was at the receiving end of it. She just wasn't sure what had happened.
"Gilbert…" Star said from behind him, although she wasn't sure that he was going to listen to her. "Just forget about it…"
"What was it that I heard about you being a fan of Russia?" Gilbert shouted, causing Kate to squeak again and cower further behind Canada. "Russia? Seriously? He's insane! He's a total sociopath!"
Canada was a bit confused, but at the same time concerned for Kate's safety. "Gilbert. Stop it."
"How the hell could you be a fan of Russia? That's just wrong!" Prussia continued to shout, eventually slipping into German and sparing Kate from understanding his rants. She did turn an interesting shade of red in the process, though.
"Gilbert!" Star shouted this time to get his attention and came into the room. "There's nothing wrong with being a fan of someone. I'm a fan of Ludwig!"
"That's completely different! West might have a stick shoved up his ass but he's still reasonable!"
"I blame PunPuniChu!" Kate shouted, bringing all speech to a complete halt as everyone stared at her. "Well. It got you all to shut up, at least."
Star stared at her, unsure of what to say for a moment. "…Who's PunPuniChu?"
Kate glanced at Star. "Remember that artist girl who you kept saying scares the crap out of you? Yeah. Her." Looking back at Prussia, she continued. "Actually, that's not the reason why I like Russia…" She trailed off, turning an even deeper shade of red.
"Then why the hell do you?" Prussia demanded, patience wearing thin.
"It's just that Russia kind of looks like someone I know…" Kate trailed off. "It's just that he looks like… Jeez, this is embarrassing."
"It's Pierre, isn't it?" Star asked.
Kate squeaked again, this time from embarrassment. "Shut up! Damn Frenchie."
Prussia looked confused. "So, you say Russia looks like a guy that you know who's French? That's just weird."
Kate shrugged. "What can I say. I like really tall blond guys."
Star glanced towards Armistead who was still standing in the doorway, assuming that the general had no idea what they were talking about based on the confused expression on his face. "Prussia and Russia don't get along very well, Lo," she said, trying to explain.
Prussia scoffed. "That's an understatement."
"I don't have issues, I don't have issues, I don't have issues," Kate was mumbling to herself.
Star shrugged, glancing around at the speakers which had been completely set up. "So… are we almost ready for the party?"
"Ah, I should probably make some food…" Canada mumbled, apparently just as eager to change the conversation as Star was. The sooner they got past that… interesting revelation about Kate, the less awkward the party would be.
