Very current

It's a sunny afternoon. Serbia is doing some gardening before sitting at her chair to rest. She seems relaxed as she looks at the phone and browses her feed. On the other hand, Croatia paces around his garden extremely anxious. More from a need to share his trouble than a desire to talk to her, he comes near the gate and calls out: "Hey, why are you so calm? Don't you know that there is a global pandemic going on?"

Serbia replies still looking at her phone: "I know. I check the latest news every morning and afternoon."

Croatia keeps staring at her expecting the continuation of the story. "And?!" he at last begins "That's it? The Corona virus, the migrant crisis, the oil wars...And you just sit like a lug and scrawl your phone!"

Serbia frowns. She sighs and turns to him. "Alright" she says with a slightly sarcastic tone "Enlighten me, what should I be doing in this pivotal hour?"

"Well, panic for starters" he says completely serious.

Serbia puffs air out of her nose and shakes her head. "I've got all my people working on it. The number of infected is still sustainable. The people are preparing on their own. Basically, there is nothing left for me to do...What use is panic now?"

"You are unbelievable! How can you be so casual about such serious things?" he says in disbelief. We see her face. She gulps remembering something.

Flashback: 1915. The Austro-Hungarian advances have been repelled. Unfortunately, their soldiers have left a nasty parting gift. Epidemic typhus that has soon spread throughout the army which has, because of poor sanitary conditions, spread to the public.

Next scene: A journalist is in the room of the residential palace. He is interviewing the king. Serbia and a few guards are in the room with them.

"Your Majesty, what can you tell our readers about the typhus situation?" he asks with his pen on a piece of paper. King Alexander (Александар) looks around looking dignified. After half a minute he replies calmly: "Out troops have done a wonderful job and kept our country safe."

The confused journalists ask another question: "I see. And what will the government do about this current situation?" Serbia and the king exchange discrete glances.

"What situation?" the king replies. "Everything is fine" Serbia says smiling.

"The...newspapers are filled with obituaries. Many people have already died" the journalist continues carefully.

The two look at him calm and unresponsive. The guard opens a thick paper so carelessly that the extra papers, filled with black squares falls to the ground. The journalist waits silently for his question to be answered. The king smiles: "I really enjoyed our interview. Unfortunately, we have another appointment. Isn't that right?" he stands up and looks at Serbia. "Yes, we do!" she replies and they say goodbye to the reporter. He leaves the building confused and walks away. The poles outside are covered in black and white rectangle posters with crosses on them.

End of flashback: "I've been through worst and believe me, talking from experience, no good has ever come from making the public afraid" she says and stares at her phone emotionless. Croatia shakes his head, even more nervous than before. "And what about other problems?"

She doesn't reply.

"You really are crazy. I'm gonna find someone sane to talk to" he says angry as he looks around. Everyone else is inside. Montenegro gets out carrying a traditional church banner. He walks around his garden yelling paroles "Only unity saves the church!" over and over again.

Croatia facepalms herself. "You are still at it? Aren't you afraid you will get infected?"

Montenegro stops and answers: "Why worry when I have the power of God by my side?" He then continues his walk.

Serbia smiles and cheers him on: "At a boy bro! You show them."

Croatia's head starts to hurt. He mumbles something and returns to his home.

Next day: A few days later. Serbia is checking the fence. She sees us and says in confidence: "What? Of course, I am doing something about the current situation." She continues fixing the fence moving away. She returns only to say: "But I'm not panicing, okay? There is still no use in that."