?

The one responsible for the picture has been apprehended and detained! I don't know how Ellie managed that while still getting us to Italy 'on time'. It hadn't even been a full day before she called and announced her victory. It takes longer than that even in Alfred's movies... I want to be able to hunt someone down that quickly just in case something like Taken ever happens. Sure I'd probably have been the one to kidnapped, but for a different reason because everyone has drilled into me never to trust the French. (Especially blond naked ones, because if I ever see one of those; I talk to the nearest armed adult immediately to remove them or mortally wound them if they won't go quietly.)

Kiku said Ellie and Yao already met the person. They're a nation too,  so now they're just going to join up with us for pictures and fun. I'm meeting so many new people all at once I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to remember anyone's name or their country. There will be more people to the list tomorrow, including whoever Ellie's found. Let's hope they're nice.

o.o

Wait, this just came up in my random thoughts. Just how much of us is human and how much is nation? If I drink water in Greenland or eat something that grew there, is that self-cannibalism? Am I eating myself? What does that say about Alfred then? Because he would be doing that all the time. Is there going to be any adverse affects to the actual nations instead of just the people they represent? Or like the land, because a nation is the people, the land, and everything else.

Does that mean Alfred is a super-cannibal because he gets things imported from all over? What does that make trade then? Was Arthur a former super-cannibal because of being the British Empire? This would be way easier if we were all just elves or something.. . At least I know us being nations doesn't connect us directly to our people in some ways and in others it does.

Like if your people are starting a war, you know it.

If there's a plague or huge illness going on, you know that too.

If you accidentally set fire to the kitchen, your people won't know about that. (unless it makes the news)

If someone makes a new recipe, you might know if you're paying attention, but usually you'll just get it through the grapevine like everyone else.

I don't know if I should ask about the cannibal thing. o.o

China and Japan

(I couldn't post this until the above mentioned were not around.) You can't even tell Yao and Kiku are brothers. They have a similar facial structure, but they are so polite to each other! Even my brothers aren't this polite! Are they aliens?

I like them though. They are very nice.

Yao tried to explain to me with a really really long explanation what a communist was, and it was really confusing. He was very enthusiastic about it, and he lost me. He said something about lots of stuff about government and politics, and and, I don't know what else. Wasn't it some kind of animal? That's what I thought.

Kiku cleared it all up really fast though. He pointed at this weird thing and said that it was a communist(and to stop arguing over it). Apparently, a communist, is a 'panda'. I took a picture of it since it is a very strange creature indeed. It eats bamboo instead of hamburgers, and helps Yao around the house with things sometimes. Even weirder, it can talk. Not like how my boss talks (he is a polar bear) in like mind-bear-speak, but, this panda thingy can talk like a person. It gave me a big hug! ^^

They called it a bear too. It is not a bear. I'm certain it's not a bear. Pandas are very strange creatures. Like those taco-dogs Alfred has. Very strange indeed.

PS. Elizaveta said she had people to track down the random camera person for her to save time. Isn't that kinda scary? How can they know what she saw?

Oo-rah

Heh, that's something Alfred says sometimes. I don't know what it means. But Yao made the reverse spell really fast and sent us on our way. (Ellie said that since he helped us, we're going to get him last.) The plan changed somewhat since Kiku's now in on it. He's got a bunch of costumes we're going to shove the people into so they'll look just like they did when they were little.

Ellie said someone ran past us and snapped a picture of Gilbert. I didn't even notice. Was there really someone running? It might be a bad thing that his picture got taken since we don't know if it was by someone like us or a normal person. If it was by the latter, we might be in trouble. Like, a lot. Not necessarily because people don't know about us, sure they do, but regular humans put things on the news. And if everyone knows about our shrinking escapades, that'll ruin the surprise and- 'cause us to need lots of rope' says Ellie. (Anyone else not know what goes on in this woman's head? What's the rope for??) So not only will be shrinking and unshrinking people, but we will be on the lookout for the random people who took Gilbert's picture. I didn't see them at all, so Ellie and Kiku will be taking care of that part. So we headed East and then South. We got Russia and Belarus and Ukraine, and we're currently staying on a plane in Moldova waiting to take off so we can start working on tracking down Turkey and Greece. I waved at some of the countries, but Ellie says not to talk. I guess she really was paying attention to Mr Denmark... oh well, I at least got to see them. We have to avoid the Baltics and Nordics(cause, yeah) for now. Lithuania would possibly keep his mouth shut about what we're up to, but Latvia might blurt it out randomly and Estonia might try and tell the Nordics just because he thinks he is one. Wait... that's what Ellie said, but do I know those guys? That kinda sounds familiar.... Especially about someone who's not Nordic and thinks he is. Wasn't he that scary guy from Legoland? Something about Legoland...

A snag

Um, kinda figured out why I never tried to shrink anyone. Well, you see, Ellie and I went to meet up with this friend of hers that wanted to come along on our shrinkie-dink adventure, and I got to meet Kiku. I really don't think Elizaveta got how paranoid Matthias is, like at all, with me talking to strangers. I'm okay with meeting new people most of the time, sometimes... as long as they aren't scary.

Kiku is Japan, and is definitely not scary. He was wearing a dress for some reason. He called it a kimono, but it was definitely a dress. He said he was very impressed with how the spell worked. (Cause the mini-Gilbert had been toted along with us. He sneaked into my bag.) Then he asked how I figured out how to reverse the spell to fix it.

And I asked; what?

Then everyone looked at me weird.

Yeah, never really figured that part out.

So we're going to Kiku's big brother's house. We collectively know three people who know magic; two of which would not approve of what we'll be doing and thus tell on us... So we have my brother Tlior, Arthur, and Kiku's brother Yao. Hehe, his name is the sound a cat makes if you trip over its tail. He likes cute things too, so he'll be sure to help us if we ask nicely enough. I have no idea what my brothers will say when they find out. It'll be so embarrassing! ... do you think they'll want copies of the pictures?

I wonder what China's like. Alfred's talked about it sometimes. Maybe I'll finally find out what a communist is. I keep thinking it must be a very irritating creature who steals hamburgers and gives them to other irritating creatures, but maybe that's wrong. Not all the things I've gotten from Alfred were as clear as they should have been.

And! lastly, tiny-Gilbert is soooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!

Heh

Gilbert's adorable as a baby. If it's possible, he's even more proud of himself right now, because Ellie's been letting him get away with more things because he is so so cute. So like, Ellie said that if we just left Matthias at her house, he'd be fine long enough for us to hang out and get baby pictures of all the nations. But he freaks out thinking I'm running away when I don't tell him where I'm going. It happens a lot since I'm kinda a forgetful person and have my own house. And like, there are butterflies and things to chase in the summer. So that was a no go. So we opted for something that might work. We're having a girl's day out, for a week. I have no clue what that is, and neither did Matthias too much, but Ellie said something to him, and he agreed. Why would a day last a week? Anyway, we have a week to get all the baby pictures we can. Or maybe it's a day... Anyway, we have more time since I'm not going off by myself and Ellie's responsible like Tlior. We'll post all the pictures after we're done. We've worked it all out so it won't take as much time. Ambush, surprise, I cast the spell, and Ellie takes the pictures and we're out. I feel like we're forgetting something, but I figure I'll remember sooner or later. I'm also going to be taking tons of pictures of the country since I haven't been anywhere outside of the Nordic nations, America, Canada, England, and now Hungary. I'm so glad I'm going with Elizaveta. I'd be so lost and never find anyone by myself. I wonder how many pictures we'll get.

awww

Miss Elizaveta was a little downhearted to her book back. Oh, Gilbert was at her house trying to get attention. I always thought he lived at Matthew's house as a freeloader. (that's what Matthew says sometimes) He's not a popular guy in Ellie's home. She chased him out with a frying pan. It was a great magic trick. Just like how magicians bring out a bouquet of flowers, only she did it with a frying pan. Still can't figure out where it came from. Matthias was a little upset I knew people he never introduced me to, but he was okay with it after awhile since I wasn't freaking out being around them. If I started crying or something though, he definitely would have tried to kill them. Then I would have had to call Tlior and Matthias would get beat up and we'd all have to go home. I told Ellie about the spell I was trying to work out, and she was very supportive of the idea. Yes she did have a time machine! It just broke down so she can't use it anymore. She couldn't let me see Arthur's baby pictures, because she had to trade them back to Arthur for something. It better have been something really great to get rid of them. Like coffee. So Ellie is helping me figure out how to try out the shrinkie-dink spell (that's it's official name now <3) in a controlled environment so if it backfires it won't hurt anyone. She also said Gilbert volunteered for us. I thought he was just a really loud guy who demands pancakes, but he's apparently a whole lot nicer than I thought. Isn't that wonderful? I get to shrink someone! ^^

YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!

We're going to Elizaveta's house! She's apparently the representative for Hungary. That's not too far from Denmark, so I'm staying the night in my old room so we can leave in the morning. I got my own house in 2009, and it's awesome, but it's good to be home. Um, in my old home I mean. Right... So anyway, I found this notebook I was working on for awhile, but lost right before I moved out. I hid it under a stack of books and a lamp. I found it by tripping over the books and barely catching the lamp. The notebook is very important. I forgot about it for a bit, but I remember now. My big brother Tlior never taught me any magic, but he did used to tell me these rhymes, and I totally think he really did teach me stuff, but like, in secret. So I decided to put everything I knew into a maybe-spell-that-might-work. Since cameras haven't been around for a really long time, and the only baby pictures that are around are of Alfred and Matthew because they're so young, I want to shrink some of the other countries down to kiddo size for a day or two so I can see what they looked like when they were little and maybe get a group shot of them all being kiddos! That would be so adorable!!!! I don't remember why I never tried it out. But wait... didn't that lady have baby pictures of Arthur? That doesn't make sense unless she did what I want to do... or maybe she has a time machine? That would be amazing! I'll have to ask her when I see her again.

The book

Remember that book that nice lady at Arthur's house gave me? I think her name was... Elizaveta? I finally got around to reading that book. That book, is very confusing. I believe the term for it would be 'trashy romance novel'; however, it's not... normal. It's about real people, like, countries. It was very strange. After maybe, an hour in the book time scheme, one was proclaiming love for the other and the other one kept telling him to remember to get dressed. I am so confused. Who are Italy and Germany? I mean, I kinda remember they were in WW2, but I don't get out much, so I don't know them personally. I have read about them in Humons' comics, but those are silly versions of everyone. The Denmark in the comics is especially silly and is afraid of butterflies. This might be about the real ones. I think I need to return this book. It is very confusing. The only thing is, I don't know which country Elizaveta is. And I'll probably get Arthur, her, and me all in trouble if I ask Matthias because I'm not supposed to meet or talk to people without his okay. It'll be alright though. Alfred taught me an awesome way to get out of trouble called 'puppy eyes'. I've only used it twice so far in practice, but it got me my own flag and self-rule. It's only for emergencies though because if I use it too much he'll get immune to it then become a grumpy old man. Wish me luck!

coffee and turkeys

I've been home in Greenland for awhile. Ernir didn't tell me straight out what was bad about coffee, he just directed me to the internet, saying the majority of my questions could be answered by it. I just read in a Time magazine that 86% of his entire population use Facebook. Yikes... (for coffee, it's supposed to stunt your growth or something. would that even affect someone like us?) And, have you ever had one of those experiences, when just as you're about of leave, something happens that makes you super curious, and you want to stay a little longer? There was this guy who showed up just as I was leaving, like, we opened the door and he was like, right there. Right there. I didn't have time to hide or anything.

He was scary, he had a mask, I thought he was a burglar. But Ernir was like: Hi pops.

And I was like: o.o you know the burglar?

And then the drunk burglar hugged us. He is a likable drunk burglar, and he is not a burglar, because he is Ernir's friend. He passed out after awhile. So I asked my brother why he was wearing a mask. He said it was kinda like a raccoon. Raccoons wear their masks because they're just them. Turkey wears a mask because he was just him also. It would not be good to be nosy to see his face, because that is part of his face. So I guess turkeys like masks too. (What kinda of parent would name their kid after a bird?)

So I'm home now. I had to promise I wouldn't tell Denmark I met someone new without his permission. I did, cause I don't want to get my brother in trouble. Oh, and I found out one of my people is a bit more optimistic than I am. Just read the Info section of their Facebook. Silly Greenlander. <3

Sleeping with the Puffins

It's much better than sleeping with the fishes, because if you sleep with fish, you're probably dead. Or you're going to be if you can't breathe under water. Well, you can breathe under water, it just doesn't work the same way as air. Cause it makes you dead. I went out in a skip and hung out alone on an island with nothing but puffins the whole day. (There were some other birds there too, but not a lot.)

I got to see a man killed by a polar bear and eaten by a shark today. It was weird. Like, this bear, totally knew it would get in trouble for eating a human or something. But it wanted that man dead. So it killed him, and dragged his body to the sea, and then I saw some dorsal fins go up to it, and it was eaten by sharks. As strange as that was, I don't know if I can tell my brothers. It sounds a little too strange for them to believe me. But, eh, I'll still tell them. I took a nap on the little island with the puffins. That random guy is taking a nap with the fishes, in the bellies of sharks.

I got some good pictures of puffins. They all looked like they were posing for me.

That's my skip. It's kinda old, but it does have a sail, I just took it off to clean it (blood spatter). It's named Vængir, and it's just a neat little thing. <3

Impromptu skydiving

Okay, I just wanted to go snowboarding, but when I asked Ernir he was like, wanna go skydiving? It didn't register what he said until like, two minutes after I already agreed to go. I was okay with it, I guess. Never went skydiving before, and I was pretty much freaking out. He didn't constantly tease me or say we were both gonna die like Matthias would have, and we got up in the air okay. Some guy named Baldur was flying the plane, and I almost called him Charlie. Mr Puffin did not come with us, but apparently some people will bring their dogs with them.

So minus the dog and insert more screaming, this was pretty much what happened.

What Ernir didn't tell me until about ten minutes before we were going to jump out of a perfectly good plane, was that there was going to be a volcano under us when we did. And me, being the brilliant person I am, just nodded, because I was still thinking about the outfits we were jumping in. It reminded me of one of those baby things. It's like a backpack, only for a baby, and you wear it backwards. Volcanoes smell like rotten eggs, but somehow it's not too bad if you're close to the sea.

Day out

Legoland was great! Peter and Raivis has lots of fun and we did not get kidnapped. ^^ Not getting kidnapped is very good. We went on a pirate boat ride, and they pretended to be vikings while I was the ninja they had to defeat. Note to everyone who has never been around kids; don't give them wooden swords. Not unless you're a-okay with them beating you. I think it's a boy-thing, because Tlior and Berwald both like to do that to Matthias. Not sure how, but I won the 'fight'. Hurray for ninjas? I was raised by vikings, but ninjas seem pretty fun. Peter didn't have to explain what they were, cause Alfred already did that. They are shadow beasts from Japan that are very silent walkers and come out from other shadows with swords and knives and then start fighting and killing other shadows or people. They also usually stay out at night and train all during the day so they can become even better. I wonder when they have time to sleep?

So we stopped for coffee before we went home, and we got to drop Raivis off at um, some person's house. I didn't quite catch their name. He was blond, had glasses, and a sweater. He said he was a Nordic nation, but he is not a Nordic nation. I don't know him. He freaked me out saying that. I think Peter told him to shush, because he whispered something to him and he stopped. (He said later that nation was just a confused Baltic.) Anyway, when I got Peter home, the visitor was still there. Tino didn't sound like he approved Peter having coffee so young. It's not alcoholic, I wonder what's wrong with it? Peter was very excited and challenged me to a challenge of videogames. I wasn't able to leave for four hours, because we were playing videogames like crazy. We killed so many zombies, and then we ran outside and ran around with Hana for awhile. Most drunks can't run like that when they are drunk. Coffee can't be alcoholic, I still don't know what's wrong with it. Tino said I should ask permission before giving it to him again. I hope I didn't hurt my nephew by letting him try it. I'll ask one of my brothers later... Tlior will probably know, but then if I go to Ernir, I'll get to see Mr Puffin too. And, Ernir's gotten to be a lot more fun. Even though he's sick a lot, like, if you want to randomly go snowboarding or doing something random and fun, he's more likely to go along with it than Tlior. Unless it has to do with skiing. Tlior likes skiing a lot. So I'll go ask Ernir about coffee and we might go snow boarding! <3

Nephew

I know that the 'Nordic Brothers' aren't all related, but I still consider Berwald and Tino's kid my nephew. He is so adorable! (He doesn't like you to call him that.) His name is Peter and he is going to become an even greater nation than America one day. I think he has to get taller than his momma before that happens, but it might happen before. I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to take Peter and one of his friends for a day out tomorrow.

His parents are having a visitor over that they haven't met before, so they want to make sure they'll be an okay influence before he meets them. I guess Mr Puffin finally got to them. He's just the sweetest little bird you've ever met, but he knows lots of bad words. I taught him to say 'Hello sweetheart fishy' when he meets someone new, but he doesn't like to say it, so he'll still say other stuff. He likes speaking Icelandic more than Greenlandic. Maybe he thinks it sounds prettier... (I do too. Don't tell Ernir!) So I'm going to take the kids to Legoland in Denmark, and introduce them to coffee. Coffee's so amazing. Tlior introduced me to it a few years back, so I'm going to let the kids try it. I'm gonna be the best aunt ever.

Yay!

I got to hang out with Matthew and Arthur today. We were at Matthew's house, but Arthur brought over muffins. They did not look like muffins. They were burnt biscuits, and they were... um.. .... I cut my tongue on one, and it still hurts. They were not muffins. They couldn't have been. Muffins don't look like that.

It was still a very nice visit though. Laos and Bella showed up. I didn't know Matthew knew them. They were going to hang out, and so Arthur and I left. I guess they were gonna talk about boring things or something. They had some bags with them that smelled funny. Maybe it's a new kind of tea they're working on! But secretly. That's why we didn't stay. Then we went to England's house for a bit, and there was this lady in a green dress there who wanted to talk to Arthur about some pictures. I bet they were his baby pictures, because he got very red. Alfred gets very red too when Arthur breaks out his baby pictures, so that must have been what she was talking about. Hehehe, he made her shoosh, and pointed to me, like I didn't know what she was talking about. Hah, I totally did. Anyway, he had to go get her something to get the pictures back. Well, the lady turned out to be really really nice. She was just teasing Arthur with the baby pictures. (She wouldn't let me see them though... I guess cause Arthur would be too embarrassed.) Her name is Elizaveta and she is Hungary's representative.

We only talked for a few minutes, but she gave me a book! It has this weird Japanese name I couldn't say, but she assured me it was in English. I haven't started reading it yet. I wonder what it's about. I'm so excited. ^^