Nation or State?

One Shot 5

"What are we?"

The very words shattered any sort of customary greeting that usually rolled off Alfred's tongue the moment he got home, stunning him before he could even shut the door. Then there was the fact that Jackson had obviously been waiting for him by the front door to add to the strangeness of the matter. Alfred's eyebrows furrowed as he began to realize that his little brother had bags under his eyes and looked all around disheveled, which was certainly new. Rough day babysitting Nikkita, he guessed. Alfred knew the trials of being an older brother well, but the question still threw him off. He had this conversation three times before in his life: once with Arthur when he was the one that asked, then with Jackson, who had been the asker that round, and finally Nikkita when she became curious of her origins. He had not expected a fourth conversation on the topic, much less the question that always started it all.

"Did you fall and hit your head? We're nations." Alfred chuckled, recovering from the shock and finally closing the door.

"Really?"

Now Alfred's chuckle turned uneasy.

"Well, yeah. We aren't aliens like Tony, so what else could we be?"

Jackson rolled his eyes at the mention of their gray friend, currently visiting his family at the time, "I guess I should have known to be more specific: are we nations or states?"

Alfred's eyes widened as the realization set in that Jackson was not talking about the regular American states.

"Both?"

It sounded more like a question, but he had been blindsided. Since when did Jackson care what political scientists called them? It was a relatively new field anyway.

"So, nation-states?"

"Sure."

Jackson's eyes narrowed dangerously, "I have been up a good thirty eight hours trying to figure this out, so it is in your best interest to take it seriously."

Well that explained his appearance, but not so much why Alfred had not caught on before this point. However, that was a battle for another day.

"Well I was not expecting a pop quiz when I walked in the door. Why does it even matter?"

Jackson sighed, "Because Nikki asked me this yesterday and when I realized I had no clue what to tell her it was one of the worst feelings in the world."

Alfred smiled apologetically, knowing exactly the feeling Jackson spoke of. Even if he knew people were not perfect, much less himself, it still hurt all the more when he felt he had let his little brother see his imperfections early on. It was simply a part of life, no matter how either of them cared for it. Besides, Alfred had learned that showing his imperfections was not the worst thing in the world, since knowing that one's imperfections and all were accepted was one of the best feelings in the world.

"And you should be expecting pop quizzes." Jackson continued, "Since we never know when our professors will give them."

Now that caused a frown to form on Alfred's features. The last thing he wanted to hear about was class, and the associated homework, when he had just gotten home from work. Both he and Jackson, on top of holding down a full time job with hours admittedly somewhere in between flexible and rigid, also attended various universities. With the rate that human knowledge was advancing, the last thing they could afford to do was to fall behind. Besides, it was not like they wanted to be confined to relationships with politicians and maybe a few lucky neighbors. This option opened up opportunities to connect with not only academics, but the rising youth as well. On occasion the two had even met future presidents in the process. Regardless of it all, the two were still regular, overworked college students in the end and remembering that did not always bring about the best feelings. Class really was just about the last thing that Alfred wanted to think about.

"Alright, alright. I get it. How did she come up with a question like that anyway?" Alfred conceded, finally pushing the conversation away from the front door and into the living room.

Jackson answered just as Alfred plopped onto the couch, "I think she got ahold of one of my textbooks, so anything not up to par will not suffice."

Alfred sighed himself as Jackson took the seat beside him. So it was going to be this difficult? Things involving Nikkita tended to be. She had a knack for jarring questions, just as Jackson, but hers spread into the field of scientific insight instead of just the usual emotional.

"Did we ever figure out the last question?" Alfred queried, studying the ceiling as if it held the answer in cryptic lettering.

"We tried, and guessed in the end." Jackson admitted, with the same pain of having his teeth pulled, "Did you have an epiphany on whether or not there were some deep sea plants at the bottom of trenches that contained chlorophyll or are we still sticking with no, they all rely on chemosynthesis because sunlight does not reach the sea floor?"

"And how long did it take to exhaust our sources and eventually guess?"

"I was delusional enough by the end that I haven't the slightest clue."

"Me either." Alfred confessed, "So let's get this over with before that happens again."

"Agreed. We were on nation-states, but according to the textbook Nikki got ahold of there are also state-nations, part nation-states, and multinational states. Remember those?"

Alfred nodded, "Nation-states started with the nation first and then got a territory. The state-nations had the territory first and developed a nation from that. The part nation-states are a single nation split into two states, usually with different political and economic systems. Then multinational states have a bunch of nations within its borders."

"From that description, France would be a nation-state, you would be a state-nation, the two Koreas would be part nation-states, and Canada would be a multinational state. However, that is problematic because it raises some other questions." added Jackson.

"Yeah, if we just accepted that, France is a nation, I am a state, the Koreas are nations, and Canada is a state. You would be a nation, too, now that I think about it. It does not make sense if we are not the same thing."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Fine then, but I do not see much of an answer other than that we are different. I mean, you were born with the territory, right? Or were you the nation of the natives? If we can figure that out Canada is taken care of, but Russia is another one of those multinational countries. Are you really willing to bet on whether he was a nation or a state?"

Alfred began to run his hands through his hair. This debate was frustrating. The personifications simply had to be the same thing. If not, then it would cause so many problems it would not be funny. However, Jackson had some points. He had certainly not looked representative of his natives in his youth and for a large part of his childhood they were his only people. The colonists were Englishmen then, not Americans. They became his as he grew, as he became a nation. So was he originally a state, and, if so, was he then the personification of the state and not the nation? If that was true, what about Jackson? Sure, he somewhat had his own territory, but he was born as a nation, a set of people different from the north and he later carved out a territory even if Alfred technically took it back. Did that make Alfred the state and Jackson the nation in state-nation? The one thing Alfred was sure of is that he would never leave any unattended textbooks out again, and he hoped Jackson felt the same.

Grrrrrr!

Both Alfred and Jackson jumped at the noise, but immediately felt foolish when their eyes settled on a very small girl. She hung in the living room's doorframe looking at the two quite expectantly. For a moment they had not the slightest idea why, but it hit them both like a pile of bricks the moment the frustrating topic released their brains. It was late, dark in fact, and they had been so consumed with their conversation that they had not spared a thought to what would have been the usual routine of fixing the evening meal. The two were quite sure that Nikkita had been far too patient with them, if anything, judging by the fact that Nikkita's growling stomach was only the beginning of the chorus of growls they all shared.

"Sorry Nikki." Jackson immediately apologized, darting for the kitchen, "Just give me a moment."

Alfred merely laughed and led the child into the kitchen after Jackson, "Yeah, you really should have got us earlier."

The child tilted her head at this, watching closely as Alfred took a seat at the kitchen table and motioned for her to do the same, "But you were busy. What were you even talking about?"

Alfred did not even have to turn his head to know Jackson had gone rigid in his kitchen preparations.

"You know that question you asked Jackie? Well, we were trying to answer it." Alfred explained, gauging the child's reaction.

Said child seemed to be torn between confusion and amusement, but eager nevertheless, "And did you find an answer?"

Alfred was not sure how much he liked her reaction, but he could not find it within himself to dodge the question, "Yeah, but it might not be exactly the answer you were looking for. I think we are nations because of our people. We take the shape of humans, so why wouldn't we represent them? This form also allows us to connect with them like no other. I am not saying our territories are not a part of us, I do not ever remember a nation ever really picking up and moving, but that is because the land is a part of our people, too. Even when the land comes first, the people are what make the land into whatever it will be, whatever we will be. So, we are all nations, first and foremost."

Alfred felt pretty proud of himself for coming up with that. This pride grew as it became clear that Jackson not only did not have anything to add, but his tension was almost completely dissolved. Even Nikkita seemed to simply be soaking in the words. Maybe this had not been so bad after all.

Alfred turned around with one of his Hollywood smiles in place, "What are we having for dinner, Jackie—"

"Big brother Alfie."

Before Alfred could even turn his head back around, she spoke.

"So what does that mean about me, since I do not have any people?"

The sound of Jackson dropping all of his kitchen utensils never fit how Alfred felt inside so closely until that moment, the moment when Alfred's unconditional support for the electronic information flow and all its mediums was born. Sadly, neither Google, Wikipedia, nor anything else has ever helped him reign Nikkita in, which has also supported his respect for books over the years. They are quite fearsome weapons in the hands of a curious, unconquerable little girl.