[ April 1st ] I Am (Most Certainly Not) America

[Ivan Braginski]

With a quiet sigh, Russia sank onto the bench outside his next classroom. He was early -- the door was closed, and the hallway was still mostly empty -- but he had come prepared to kill time until the lecture started. Digging out his copy of I Am America (And So Can You!) and settling it on his knees, he turned (somewhat warily) to the first page, entirely unsure of what to expect. He hadn’t needed it yet, but he was curious, and it couldn’t hurt to look ahead at the year’s required readings.

‘Congratulations—just by opening the cover of this book you became 25% more patriotic.’

That was odd. Russia took a moment to assess himself, and decided that he felt no different than he had only moments before. Of course he knew who Stephen Colbert was -- had even let the strange man read the news to him feel the news at him on more than one late night during his two years here in the States -- but, even so, he had yet to fully understand American humor. He leaned intently over the book in his hands, eyebrows drawing down and together into a perplexed frown as he thumbed rapidly through the pages. What exactly was this? Suddenly, splashed across a chapter heading in massive, show-stopping black letters--

SEX

He fumbled and jerked his hands back, nearly dropping the book to the floor. It flipped closed, and Colbert’s sharp, condescending countenance gazed stonily up at him from his lap. At the moment, Russia couldn’t help but take that knowingly arched eyebrow very personally, and shrank down into his scarf to hide the faint flush that had risen utterly irrationally to his face, managing to look both puzzled and horribly embarrassed at once.

[ooc: Open to whomever :D]

[Alfred F. Jones]

America walked to his next class, well aware of the upcoming election the next day and chosing to don several American flag pins on his person saying "VOTE AMERICA", making his identity abundantly clear to those who didn't know him already.

Now, America was usually all for the manhandling of books. He wasn't too fond of them, all things considered, unless they were comic books, so when he saw some guy down the hall almost drop one of his textbooks as if what he'd seen inside of it offended or scared him in some way, he had a nice little laugh over it.

That was, until he saw the cover of the book. It was only his favorite textbook and the only textbook he'd ever been presented with that was actually worth reading! What was this guy up to?

"Hey!" America called down the hall and converged on a guilty-looking Russia. He tilted his head to confirm that it was in fact the book he thought it was. "What was up with that? It looked like you were about to drop it! I like that book."

[Ivan Braginski]

Russia glanced up thoughtlessly at the call which rang down the hallway, though he was visibly surprised when he saw that it was directed at him. He had only a moment to wonder at the person’s audacity before they had closed in and were standing over him, and--oh. ‘America,’ he almost said, and immediately he knew that the polite, habitual smile he had schooled into place had likely gone somewhat cool around the edges.

Suddenly, this was less startling and more--…well, they would have had to speak to each other eventually.

“Sorry,” he replied with an appropriately apologetic smile, despite not being entirely sure what he was even apologizing for. His reserve lingered in the undercurrents of his voice. “There was a rather abrupt transition, you might say. It surprised me.” He quirked his mouth and shrugged in an absent and vaguely helpless ‘what can you do?’ kind of way. He always had been a focused reader, perhaps overly so, but he saw no need in trying to explain that.

At a bit of a loss, Russia folded his hands on top of the book, eyes flickering away from America’s face and over his election pins. “How is your campaign coming?” he asked on a whim, grasping uncertainly for a pleasantry. Small-talk was mostly beyond him, but he had already resigned himself to at least trying. Where America was concerned, he honestly didn't have much of a choice.