[USxUK] Theme: Science [Summer Camp Event]
Jul. 4th, 2011 06:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blood_wingedTitle: The Final Frontier.
Genre: General.
Word Count: 1425
Rating/Warnings: U, none.
Summary: Some lightheartedness as our intrepid nations take their first steps onto a new world.
They had done it. After two hundred years of planning and failure and trying again they had finally done it. Arthur set his hands on his hips and looked up, the high glass dome above them warping the new sky as if they were looking at a reflection rather than the thing itself. There were constellations that he recognised but from different angles, and ones that looked completely new. Beneath their feet the ground gently hummed as the gravity equaliser did its work and made this place feel so much more like home. Beside him, Alfred looked about to leap straight out of his space suit in excitement and Arthur had to resist the oh-so-desirable urge to roll his eyes, as much as the sight warmed his heart.
It felt strange. Not an inch of familiar ground anywhere under them but it almost felt as if this place had always been a part of him, a part of all of them. They hadn’t done it alone, he and Alfred. Countries from all over the world had helped in this venture and some of them were present here, but Alfred had insisted upon being the first to come in and it had saved a lot of fuss just to give in and let him. Arthur hadn’t expected to be grabbed by the hand and dragged along too but he hadn’t complained.
The new streets and living quarters were a long way from being completed, the bare bones of new buildings just beginning to rise from the newly drilled rock, but it wouldn’t be long before they took shape. From the moment they had found water beneath the lunar surface this settling had been inevitable. America had led the way, their NASA program pulled out of the dust and revived in more splendour than before. Russia had followed, but the more amicable relations that had developed between the two countries meant that instead of competing, they chose to assist one another, and had it not been for that, Arthur thought, they might still be at square one. Soon after that, China had joined in the push for lunar colonisation and Canada had not been far behind his brother in his interests. Several nations less developed in terms of space travel had been pulled along for the ride, and Arthur had been one of them.
Now, he could barely believe that it had all come to fruition. He should have known. Alfred had always been able to do almost anything he put his mind to and when he had said ‘we are going to colonise the moon’, there had been no laughter, only an awkward ripple of uncertain chuckles followed by a deathly silence which Alfred had of course taken as an approval. No one was laughing now. All the money spent had been worth it.
“This.. is.. so.. awesome!” Alfred blurted out into the small microphone by his lips, his voice filtering into Arthur’s helmet along with a faint hiss of radio static. He shook his head slightly. One of mankind’s greatest accomplishments was laid out before him in all its glory and the first adjective that came to the American’s mind was ‘awesome’. He could certainly have a way with words when he wanted to but now was clearly not one of those times. Out of the corner of his eye Arthur noticed the younger man turning to look at him, and he shifted, his boots stirring up the dusty ground, tipping his head up to meet the other’s wide, eager eyes. “The air in here is safe to breathe, right?”
“Well, that-” the English nation began, but Alfred was already fumbling with the release on his suit, a faint hiss as it was caught, and then he was pulling his helmet off and shaking his hair free, nudging his glasses up his nose and looking up as if he’d never seen the stars before. Arthur was not impressed. “Alfred, what are you doing?!” he snapped. “We haven’t been cleared to go in without suits yet, who knows what they’ve put in the filtration to get rid of the last of the chemicals in the-.. Alfred?” The younger blonde was turning slightly red, clutching at his throat as if he couldn’t breathe. He fell to one knee and Arthur felt his heart seize in horror as he dropped down beside him. “Alfred? Alfred!”
The American was gasping, making an odd sound, a sort of choked back noise almost like… laughter. He was laughing.
“You little bastard,” Arthur said, shoving the man and getting to his feet. Alfred stood, drawing in deep lungfuls of air and closing his eyes, ignoring the glare of death being shot at him by his companion. “Are you insane or just bloody stupid?” the older man tried again, getting attention this time in the form of a ‘hm?’ and a half-curious glance. “You had no idea what could be in the air? Don’t you know how delicate the balance is to make sure that it’s air we can breathe? It’s a very precise chemistry!”
“I got your chemistry, right here.”
CLUNK.
The usual ploy of swooping in and giving Arthur a kiss to take his mind off being annoyed – one which had served Alfred very well in the past with an almost one hundred percent success rating – was quite suddenly and unpleasantly halted by the sound of a nose and forehead hitting glass, and Alfred whined loudly.
“Arthur, take it off! Take it off! Take it off!”
“No!” He clapped his hands over the release switches to keep Alfred from getting to them, and scowled darkly at him in a way that was slightly diminished by the fact that he was a rather slender-bodied man in a space suit slightly too big for him. Alfred stopped chanting and his eyes suddenly turned huge, his lower lip sticking out in a pout, and immediately Arthur felt himself crumbling. He couldn’t resist that look – he’d never been able to. “… Fine,” he muttered grudgingly, feeling a curling apprehension in his gut as he pressed the switches under his hands and felt the inwards rush of air as the seal was broken. Slowly, as if afraid something bad might happen if he did it any quicker, he lifted his helmet off and held onto it, blinking almost owlishly in the light.
“Finally,” Alfred said, dragging his gloves off then and not wasting time asking, simply pulling Arthur’s off, taking his hand. “I thought you were going to miss it.”
“Miss what?”
“Ssh, just look.”
Arthur looked to where Alfred was pointing, towards what seemed to be an entirely nondescript horizon. Then, a sliver of blue and then more, blue streaked with white and green and it was some moments before Arthur realised he was looking at the Earth. Every terrible and ridiculous fear of heights hit him in that moment and his knees went weak, fingers gripping Alfred’s arm tightly as he watched the Earth rise over the moon’s horizon. It hadn’t hit him until that moment that they were so far from home, and suddenly he found himself desperately needing a cup of tea. Alfred just laughed, quietly, not that noisy, mocking laughter from earlier, and wrapped an arm around the smaller nation’s shoulders.
“Pretty cool, huh,” he murmured. All Arthur could do was nod dumbly. Some part of his mind was screaming at him to put his helmet back on, that the air smelled strange and all of this was a very bad idea, but his concentration was entirely upon that globe steadily moving across the lunar sky. So tiny.. so far away. He tried to spot his own country but it was hidden under a blanket of cloud, and he suddenly felt very, very small.
“I don’t want to look at it anymore.” Arthur turned away and began to make his way back to the airlock doors. Behind him, Alfred spluttered then chased him, grabbing his arm. He looked between the man’s expression and the planet behind him, then an expression of dawning comprehension moved over his face.
“Ooh..” he let out, giving his arm a squeeze and then slinging one around him again. “’Kay, listen, they dug up this big gem while they were working in here. They don’t know what it is but it’s really, really big and shiny. You’d like it.” He shot a knowing look at Arthur, who maintained his sullen expression for only a few moments before he smiled.
“You always know how to cheer me up.”
----------------
(( A/N: I would actually be interested in continuing this.. anyone up for space pirates? XP ))
Genre: General.
Word Count: 1425
Rating/Warnings: U, none.
Summary: Some lightheartedness as our intrepid nations take their first steps onto a new world.
*****
They had done it. After two hundred years of planning and failure and trying again they had finally done it. Arthur set his hands on his hips and looked up, the high glass dome above them warping the new sky as if they were looking at a reflection rather than the thing itself. There were constellations that he recognised but from different angles, and ones that looked completely new. Beneath their feet the ground gently hummed as the gravity equaliser did its work and made this place feel so much more like home. Beside him, Alfred looked about to leap straight out of his space suit in excitement and Arthur had to resist the oh-so-desirable urge to roll his eyes, as much as the sight warmed his heart.
It felt strange. Not an inch of familiar ground anywhere under them but it almost felt as if this place had always been a part of him, a part of all of them. They hadn’t done it alone, he and Alfred. Countries from all over the world had helped in this venture and some of them were present here, but Alfred had insisted upon being the first to come in and it had saved a lot of fuss just to give in and let him. Arthur hadn’t expected to be grabbed by the hand and dragged along too but he hadn’t complained.
The new streets and living quarters were a long way from being completed, the bare bones of new buildings just beginning to rise from the newly drilled rock, but it wouldn’t be long before they took shape. From the moment they had found water beneath the lunar surface this settling had been inevitable. America had led the way, their NASA program pulled out of the dust and revived in more splendour than before. Russia had followed, but the more amicable relations that had developed between the two countries meant that instead of competing, they chose to assist one another, and had it not been for that, Arthur thought, they might still be at square one. Soon after that, China had joined in the push for lunar colonisation and Canada had not been far behind his brother in his interests. Several nations less developed in terms of space travel had been pulled along for the ride, and Arthur had been one of them.
Now, he could barely believe that it had all come to fruition. He should have known. Alfred had always been able to do almost anything he put his mind to and when he had said ‘we are going to colonise the moon’, there had been no laughter, only an awkward ripple of uncertain chuckles followed by a deathly silence which Alfred had of course taken as an approval. No one was laughing now. All the money spent had been worth it.
“This.. is.. so.. awesome!” Alfred blurted out into the small microphone by his lips, his voice filtering into Arthur’s helmet along with a faint hiss of radio static. He shook his head slightly. One of mankind’s greatest accomplishments was laid out before him in all its glory and the first adjective that came to the American’s mind was ‘awesome’. He could certainly have a way with words when he wanted to but now was clearly not one of those times. Out of the corner of his eye Arthur noticed the younger man turning to look at him, and he shifted, his boots stirring up the dusty ground, tipping his head up to meet the other’s wide, eager eyes. “The air in here is safe to breathe, right?”
“Well, that-” the English nation began, but Alfred was already fumbling with the release on his suit, a faint hiss as it was caught, and then he was pulling his helmet off and shaking his hair free, nudging his glasses up his nose and looking up as if he’d never seen the stars before. Arthur was not impressed. “Alfred, what are you doing?!” he snapped. “We haven’t been cleared to go in without suits yet, who knows what they’ve put in the filtration to get rid of the last of the chemicals in the-.. Alfred?” The younger blonde was turning slightly red, clutching at his throat as if he couldn’t breathe. He fell to one knee and Arthur felt his heart seize in horror as he dropped down beside him. “Alfred? Alfred!”
The American was gasping, making an odd sound, a sort of choked back noise almost like… laughter. He was laughing.
“You little bastard,” Arthur said, shoving the man and getting to his feet. Alfred stood, drawing in deep lungfuls of air and closing his eyes, ignoring the glare of death being shot at him by his companion. “Are you insane or just bloody stupid?” the older man tried again, getting attention this time in the form of a ‘hm?’ and a half-curious glance. “You had no idea what could be in the air? Don’t you know how delicate the balance is to make sure that it’s air we can breathe? It’s a very precise chemistry!”
“I got your chemistry, right here.”
CLUNK.
The usual ploy of swooping in and giving Arthur a kiss to take his mind off being annoyed – one which had served Alfred very well in the past with an almost one hundred percent success rating – was quite suddenly and unpleasantly halted by the sound of a nose and forehead hitting glass, and Alfred whined loudly.
“Arthur, take it off! Take it off! Take it off!”
“No!” He clapped his hands over the release switches to keep Alfred from getting to them, and scowled darkly at him in a way that was slightly diminished by the fact that he was a rather slender-bodied man in a space suit slightly too big for him. Alfred stopped chanting and his eyes suddenly turned huge, his lower lip sticking out in a pout, and immediately Arthur felt himself crumbling. He couldn’t resist that look – he’d never been able to. “… Fine,” he muttered grudgingly, feeling a curling apprehension in his gut as he pressed the switches under his hands and felt the inwards rush of air as the seal was broken. Slowly, as if afraid something bad might happen if he did it any quicker, he lifted his helmet off and held onto it, blinking almost owlishly in the light.
“Finally,” Alfred said, dragging his gloves off then and not wasting time asking, simply pulling Arthur’s off, taking his hand. “I thought you were going to miss it.”
“Miss what?”
“Ssh, just look.”
Arthur looked to where Alfred was pointing, towards what seemed to be an entirely nondescript horizon. Then, a sliver of blue and then more, blue streaked with white and green and it was some moments before Arthur realised he was looking at the Earth. Every terrible and ridiculous fear of heights hit him in that moment and his knees went weak, fingers gripping Alfred’s arm tightly as he watched the Earth rise over the moon’s horizon. It hadn’t hit him until that moment that they were so far from home, and suddenly he found himself desperately needing a cup of tea. Alfred just laughed, quietly, not that noisy, mocking laughter from earlier, and wrapped an arm around the smaller nation’s shoulders.
“Pretty cool, huh,” he murmured. All Arthur could do was nod dumbly. Some part of his mind was screaming at him to put his helmet back on, that the air smelled strange and all of this was a very bad idea, but his concentration was entirely upon that globe steadily moving across the lunar sky. So tiny.. so far away. He tried to spot his own country but it was hidden under a blanket of cloud, and he suddenly felt very, very small.
“I don’t want to look at it anymore.” Arthur turned away and began to make his way back to the airlock doors. Behind him, Alfred spluttered then chased him, grabbing his arm. He looked between the man’s expression and the planet behind him, then an expression of dawning comprehension moved over his face.
“Ooh..” he let out, giving his arm a squeeze and then slinging one around him again. “’Kay, listen, they dug up this big gem while they were working in here. They don’t know what it is but it’s really, really big and shiny. You’d like it.” He shot a knowing look at Arthur, who maintained his sullen expression for only a few moments before he smiled.
“You always know how to cheer me up.”
----------------
(( A/N: I would actually be interested in continuing this.. anyone up for space pirates? XP ))
