Adventures of the Golden State (Hetalia)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: Under much protest and complaint, I've decided that since I have nowhere else to put these, I'm going to share some of my state OC drabbles to see how people like them. Mostly focused on California, but will feature other states.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

Warning: State OCs

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((AU in which Canadians and Americans know all of their local personifications))

People dislike change, especially change that causes them to lose power in some form. Naturally, people tend to resist such changes where they can, in some cases even attempting to reverse things. Proposition Eight was one such measure, designed to shove back the recent burst of LGBT pride in the state of California, a state less likely to spawn it than one would expect, but such was life.

In another universe, perhaps such a proposition might have gained traction, even to the point of being passed. In this one, however, there was one, minor road block…

Isabel failed to blink while staring down the newscaster. "What."

"Er," The man replied, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You haven't heard about the new same-sex marriage measure gathering signatures?"

"No, I haven't," She replied slowly, expression still flat. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Some people are proposing an amendment to the state constitution declaring straight marriage to be the only legally recognized marriage?"

"Right," She said, sounding unimpressed. "Of course. How could I be so silly?"

The newscaster coughed, glancing uncomfortably at the cameraman.

Her expression picked up. "Would you guys like a short history lesson? How much do you remember about the marriage license scandal from a few years back?"

The man frowned thoughtfully. "...the one from San Francisco?"

"Yeah, that one. Gavin Newsom had just become mayor, and decided that same-sex marriage was protected under the equal protection clause. When congress found out, they tried to stop it and get the licenses revoked, or at least prevent more from being made."

"And you were involved personally?"

Isabel smiled, perfectly friendly and composed. "Well, who else do you think the mayor asked to oversee all the marriages? No one better to prove your cause legal than the state herself, ya know? And some of my own congress had the nerve to tell me the licenses I was signing personally weren't legit."

Her voice then dropped. "Would you like to know what happened to them?"

Needless to say, the proposition never saw the ballot.

(The video, once it hit the internet, went viral in hours. Half-hour long rants on the intelligence and family histories of all those involved by a beloved international superstar tended to generate those sorts of numbers.)

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((More HPtalia with Isabel!))

"School?" Isabel raised a brow. "Like, singular? I'm pretty sure I'd have a riot on my hands if I tried to enforce that. Nah, I've got, like, four traditional boarding schools up north in the mountains."

Arthur choked on his tea, glancing up to the younger personification in askance. "Four? Why would you need that many?"

"Western European, Eastern European, East Asian, Central Asian," She rattled off, smiling wryly. "None of them want to share their traditions with the others, so they quartered off the mountains and built up. Mostly the area's convenient 'cause no nonmagical people are willing to trek through the deeper parts of that mess, and it's not that hard to hide from aerial mappings. Also quite a few houses through the place for the same reasons, mostly the types who like collecting their own reagents or just don't like people too much."

He nodded in understanding. "Yes, I suppose I could see the issue in getting people of mine and Ivan's schools to play nicely together for long periods. I can't imagine it's a convenient journey for those in the southern areas."

"That's what the trains are for," Isabel pointed out with a grin. "And besides, only like a fifth of my magical folk go to those schools these days - most prefer the day school system set up across the state. I think they just opened the ninety fourth on the outskirts of Oakland, actually."

Fortunately for her blouse, she'd waited to add that last bit until after he'd swallowed his drink.

(She had a population larger than most countries, and kept drawing in more, so the magical community had had to get creative. It was much easier to have a public school system than attempt to make the traditional schools expand every few years, and it was more convenient for those parents who couldn't afford the tuition or just wanted to keep the kids closer to home.)

(Honestly, it was hard to believe Europe hadn't started implementing that yet, but that was Europe, she supposed.)

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((And yet more because my randomizer has a hard-on for this setting))

"How the hell did you manage to break an arm between yesterday and today?" Sue asked bemusedly, fingers fluttering over the dark red cast Bella was now wearing.

"Well, I went home to check in on my stuff, since I've got some new seedlings growing that I don't want the raccoons and stuff to get to, ya know?" Bella said, wincing when she moved her shoulder. "Good thing too, cause the second I Stepped into the house I heard something rustling around in my greenhouse."

"I'm guessing it wasn't raccoons?"

"Nope, a snallygaster, and a big one at that."

Ben choked from where he'd been not-so-subtly listening in on the conversation. "Aren't those things supposed to be kept locked up tight in the preserves?"

"Apparently one managed to worm its way out, based on what the authorities told me after they came to get the body. Ate half my freaking tomato plants too."

Sue stared at her friend in disbelief. "Those things are bulletproof - and you want us to believe you took it down?"

Bella snorted. "Bulletproof doesn't mean invulnerable, you know. I happened to have one of those storm jars I confiscated from a jerk who was gonna fry a power station."

"Aren't those illegal?"

"I was planning on handing it over to a disposal team after the meetings were over, sheesh." Bella rolled her eyes. "Anyways, once I saw it and it saw me, I ran inside and managed to grab the jar before it tore through my back door, and opened it up pointing at its head. Since it's got lots of metal in its beak, lightning went right for it instead of the rest of the house. Thing went flying back a good twenty feet, probably dead before it finished rolling across the ground. Don't think the preservation folks were happy with me, but it was the one that tried to eat me, it got what was coming for it."

"If you got it before it got you, why's your arm broken, then?" Ben asked, brow raised.

Bella flushed. "I sorta went flying the other way from the force of it. Slammed right into the wall. I have some people coming in tomorrow to fix it, but until then I have a me-sized dent in it."

Sue simply sighed.

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((seriously this is just silly and I'm running out of ideas))

"Why hello there, cutie," Bella cooed over the maple dragon hiding in Sue's hair. "You're Marigold, right?"

"Yeah, this one's Mary," Sue confirmed, reaching a hand back to scratch the palm-sized head. "The ones curled up in the branches right now are Dahlia, Buttercup, and Amaranth. There's a few others, but I think they're out looking for food right now, so you'll probably see them later when they're all curled up in the trees."

"I can't believe you have something so adorable living in your backyard," Bella sighed. "And the worst part is that their trees would hate my climate, so I can't even try and sneak them home anyways."

"You don't have to have every magical species on the continent in your state, you know," Sue replied. "You've already got enough species as it is."

"Yeah, but diversity is good," Bella replied. "And besides, I can't think of a single person who wouldn't want to see these little guys darting around in autumn having a good time. Heptagon Gardens especially would have them as main attractions if they could."

"As if these ones would be happy with so many people staring at them all season," Sue huffed. "Really, I thought you were trying to be more considerate of that sort of thing."

Bella shrugged. "Hey, I'd just be planting the trees - it'd be up to the dragons to move in. If it didn't work, at least there'd be some pretty trees."

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AN: Not much to say asides from the fact that my randomizer really likes the hp AU or whatever exploring magical California. Not magical Bella, mind you, just magical fauna and stuff in the state.