This is my last story for now. I divided it into parts and will post a part every week or so. Don't get me wrong, I love writing them and, honestly, there is a lot of material to draw inspiration from but I have an original idea I would love to develop further. This one is set in modern times (2016) and mostly revolves around a drinking competition :)
Characters: Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia (Macy), Czechia, Greece, Spain, The Netherlands, America, Russia, Germany, Austria, Finland and the Nordic States.
We see Serbia walking towards the camera in her modern clothes on a park path.
"So the last story was about an uprising that was about to start. It went well at first. It was fierce. Even got some help from Russia... but then Napoleonic war happened and he had to go home...": she sighs. As she passes through, a top of a small head is seen sneaking in the bushes.
"The first one was not successful but the second one was much better. Realizing that they can't really rely on anybody, the leaders, especially my then boss Miloš Obrenović, decided to get autonomy by deals, quick thinking and a little bit of bribery. Turns out brains are better than brawns." The head with short black hair approaches. The flashy-looking sunglasses on top of his head shine a menacing glow.
"Even though I wasn't officially free, I was a country in everything but name. The new boss was not that bad either. He was an autocrat but he did abolish feudalism. I was told that was pretty modern for that time. Oh, and I reformed my alphabet. Now, it has 30 letters, each one representing a phoneme so you write words exactly as you hear them": she adds confidently. The short figure behind her squats ready to pounce.
"The only problem then was I had two royal familiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...HEY!" she screams as the short man smashes into her back head first and in full force. "What gives!?"
"You're the worst!" Montenegro says dusting off his very nice suit (an enormous gold chain around his neck was not visible but it was obvious that it was there). "In all these stories you barely mention me and I'm supposed to be your broth-" he stops as Serbia puts him in a head lock.
"I'm sorry but we had a good relationship for most of our history" she says nearly choking him to death. "It's not exactly inspirational for a separate storyyyyyyyyy!" she shouts being thrown off aikido-style.
Montenegro's hair spikes up giving him the appearance of an angry porcupine. "Not everything revolves around you, you know! While you were slaving away I actually did something. I had great literature and- YUH!" he screams surprised by a wet willy.
Catching her breath she says: "Fine, you've got a point. I'll squeeze something of yours in. Are you happy?!"
"That's all I wanted" he adds still rubbing his ear. "That was discussing by the way."
She shrugs apologetically and then remembers: "Hey wait, I didn't start-"
"Well I have to go now. See you in summertime" he says and lazily walks away.
"Um...okay. I have to hurry for a class anyway. See you at the splavs" Serbia says waving goodbye. "Brothers can be such a pain" she mumbles to herself.
Next scene: We can see the inside of the EU cafe. It has a slight tavern charm and the music is softly playing in the background. Slovakia is behind the bar cleaning glasses. Only one table is occupied.
"What does this card means?" Romania asks holding up a Hangman tarot card towards his companion.
"Hmm someone is obviously having a bad day. Probably got caught red-handed in someone's vegetable garden."
"Oh come on Serbia, focus" he says with a small vein pulsing near his eye.
She chuckles and has a smoke: "Just kidding. Been doing this for 3 hours. My concentration is running a little low." As she says this she puts her cigarette in the already overflowing ashtray. There is an empty coffee cup, an unfinished espresso and a few glasses of what Romania liked to call 'grape' juice.
"I guess we're done for today" Romania says packing his deck. Serbia stops him: "Before you do, mind telling my fortune? Just for fun."
He groans but does it anyway. "I see that you worry much more than you let show. Your destiny can go either way at this point. But you are going to have a lot of fun soon. Probably going to attend a great party."
Serbia smiles enigmatically while raising her eyebrow: "What else do you see?"
"Need anything else?" a male voice is heard behind her. Slovakia puts a fresh ashtray and continues to clean the table.
"No, we're fine. Where were you? Slacking off at the new position?" Romania scolds Slovakia jokingly.
"Actually, I didn't want to come over because then I would have to kick you out. Fortune telling is not allowed here" he says calmly.
The two look at each other. "Is that what you thought we were doing? Don't be ridiculous, we were just...just playing cards" Romania explains with a big sweatdrop on the right side of his head.
"Yeah, Romania wanted to show me his custom-made card set and teach me a new game. Ain't that right?" she looks at Romania who nods.
"Whatever" Slovakia continues "well, if you need anything else I'm at the bar."
"Thanks" she says smiling kindly at him. Slovakia turns so only the viewers can see that his cheeks blushed.
Serbia got her wallet out and gave some gold coins to Romania adding: "Nice doing business with you."
"The pleasure was all mine" he replies checking the gold on his sharp fang.
Serbia remembers something. "Oh, and here's a little extra for your troubles" she says giving him a small soft package. Romania's eyes sparkle and he smiles: "You shouldn't have."
"For old times sake" Serbia laughs back. The little package in question is a spice called Vegeta*.
*Once upon a time, this spice was coveted in Romania because it was so expensive. Serbian people used to bring it in by the truckload!
"So what's with the fangs and all ''creature of the night'' outfit" she asks out of the blue.
Romania is a little stunned: "Oh it's just my image, you know. The birthplace of Dracula, vampires and all that stuff."
Serbia stares a little dissatisfied. "Vampire is my word, you know."
"Well...yeah. But you got to admit you weren't using it properly."
She makes a face which says "Excuse me?" and continues: " Just because it meant both vampire and werewolf among my people, doesn't mean it was misused. How many words for man-like monsters that attack at night do you actually need?"
Romania gasps grabbing his chest as if he was struck by a wooden stake. He whispers horrified: "You are so lucky there aren't any Twilight fangirls around here because you would be ripped to shreds for that."
They continue talking while two more enter the locale. It's Bulgaria and Macedonia.
"Look, Bulgaria finally managed to convince her to go on a date again. We should scram and-" Romania whispers before he is interrupted by a loud "Hey, you guys over here!" Serbia waves energetically while he facepalms.
Bulgaria doesn't seem pleases but Macy seems fine. She happily trots to their table and sits down.
They all order a round and chat. While Bulgaria and Romania talk to themselves Serbia asks Macy quietly: "So are you two official now?"
"Oh no, but it's still nice to have him around. Helps me access the EU more easily."
"Oh honey, that's not nice" Serbia scolds her.
"What's not nice?" Bulgaria asks.
"Mind your own business" Macy barks. Bulgaria just looks angrily in Serbia's direction.
"Don't look at me like that! I did nothing wrong" she defends herself waving her arms with a lighted cigarette.
A few hours later, the other nations start coming in. They sit at their tables and order ready to have a relaxing drink after work. At one point, Serbia groans: "They played this song fifty times already. When does the music change?"
"It's not like at your place, the music doesn't change" Bulgaria answers.
"No fun music after midnight? How can you live like that?" she seems disappointed. Groaning and falling back in her chair she wails: "I've been listening to this all day, I don't know how much I can take."
"Look at you. Not even a full member and already complaining" this time a female voice is heard behind her.
"Hey, Czechia. Not nice to eavesdrop you know." she says arching her head back.
"Oh, I wasn't eavesdropping. You're so loud I could hear you all the way from the bar."
Serbia mumbles something like "I'm not" and offers her a seat.
"So what's the deal with the music? Who picks it?"
"No one. It's the most listened radio station in the EU. It's the norm" Czechia responds.
Three dots and then a lightbulb appears above Serbia's head and she leans forward. "Who can I talk to about a thing?"
Czechia looks at her confused and takes her to talk to Slovakia. He was given to run the place for a year after all.
Next scene: Serbia returns to the table smiling from ear to ear.
"Where have you been?" Macy asks.
"Oh, just arranging a little thing" she says still smiling. The thing she was talking about was a contest. Two teams lead by her and Czechia. Each nation would bring a traditional alcohol and 2 nation volunteers would drink a random picked beverage. The one left standing gets a point. The team with the most points would choose the music for the next evening from 10 to 12 o'clock.
"So are you all in?" she says taking out a piece of paper and making her playlist. She quietly sings the refrain or the first lyric of every song she writes down.
"I don't know if I feel like it" Bulgaria yawns.
"Well, I'm in" Romania says taking the paper to add his own favorites.
"Me too" Macedonia adds taking the list. "The world must know of his greatness. Toše*, my angel, may you smile upon us. You were taken too soon" she wipes a single tear from her eye.
*Toše Proeski
"Of come on. I thought this was gonna be our night out – alone. I don't wanna spend it drinking to death for 2 hours of-"
"I put in some Ceca* just for good measure" Serbia interrupts.
"Give me that paper!" Bulgaria changes his mind mumbling some lyrics.
*Svetlana Ceca Ražnjatović
"Great, see you here in 3 hours" she smiles.
Next scene: Greece seems displeased holding a phone to his ear.
"Forget it. I'm not going to be part of a team if that nation is in it."
"Come on Greece, don't be that guy. With your ouzo we'll win for sure" Serbia says while sitting in a basement surrounded by bottles of various shapes and sizes filled with see-through liquid. With one hand she opens one by one, with the other she holds a shot glass and sips the content. Her smart phone is prompt between her shoulder and cheek.
"Besides, don't you wanna present your music to the other EU nations?"
"I already do that. It's called Eurovision. Maybe you've heard of it" he says confidentially.
"Oh, whatever."
"Say, is this by any chance because of it. I mean you set this up very close."
She raises her eyebrow confused. "Honestly, it didn't even cross my mind... So, are you sure you're out?"
Greece smirks and calmly responds: "See you Serbia. Bye." He then hangs up.
"Weird" she says putting the phone down. She then sips another glass.
"Too smooth."
She sips from another bottle.
"Too tasty."
After another one "Ah that's good. Gotta save it for later" and closes the bottle. She crosses her arms thinking. Then, she energetically gasps and starts giggling. Her laughter gets louder and louder as she approaches a bottle with a winking skull on whose top is a šaikača. Taking it her laugh turns into a full cackle.