Post by maple on Oct 10, 2010 14:13:42 GMT -5
Late October, 2007 :: On the Border of Yukon and Alaska
Joint US-Canada Portion of the Northwest Passage
[/b]Joint US-Canada Portion of the Northwest Passage
Matthew Williams stomped his feet slightly to get blood circulating through his body completely again and shoved his hands deeper inside of his warm winter coat. It was a coat, he noted dimly in the back of his mind, that PETA would have had a fit over – The neckline was trimmed in Lemming fur, and the inside was lined with rabbit. At least the exterior, for the most part, he disguised as being a typical store-bought coat. He wasn’t about to allow the animal activist group to give him a second glance. Matt didn’t particularly like getting into the headlines, especially over something that was necessary in cold such as this.
Indigo eyes glanced out at the frozen waters, and he made a dull notation to himself about the status of the ice. Maybe Global Warming wasn’t some sort of joke… The ice-flows in the water were not nearly as thick as what they should have been by this point. A frown tugged at soft lips as he tapped his toe on the frozen bank he stood on. That wasn’t as solid as it should have been either… Not good for his precious Polar Bears to hunt. If those ice flows weren’t that solid either, it wasn’t good for his seal and walrus. He made a frustrated noise deep in his throat and ran a gloved hand through his hair.
Well, that wasn’t what he was meeting his Southern Twin about… It may have been something to bring up at another meeting, at least.
(A nagging voice inside the blonde’s head chose that moment to inform him, “Sure. If they notice you or actually recognize you, go right ahead and bring it up.” Matthew silenced that voice by sweetly telling it to go stick it’s head in a frozen lake.)
The important agenda at hand had re-started, again, just a few months prior. It had been an on-going argument that started somewhere between Matthew and his brother, and ended in a joint free-for-all between America, Russia, Denmark, Norway, and himself… All over that expanse of water he could see stretching on before him. Freezing water, broken up by pieces of ice with the great prize amongst it all : Antarctica.
Certainly, it was a barren wasteland of frozen ice and rock, but it was the ultimate claim. The number of untapped resources there far outweighed the initial risk of going to said rock and, Matthew resisted the urge to laugh to himself, he had areas very similar to aforementioned wasteland on his own pieces of land. He would fight for that ice-covered rock…
…but only after he finished this spat over his Northwest Passage.
Canada had made no qualms about how he felt about the situation in the Passage. He had been infuriated when his brother had driven an oil tanker through his portion (when he had agreed that it was international waters – times had certainly changed since that opinion stood) of the Passage without receiving proper permission. He had outright flipped when said sibling harboured hidden missiles beneathe the ice in his portion… And now? Now, after he had finally gotten up the guts to tell not only his brother, but Russia and the Nordics that challenged him that the Northwest Passage, and soon the Arctic Circle, was not International Waters but his, his brother’s President (One Matthew never had great faith in, he would like to note – But there wasn’t much he could do in lieu of THAT one) had the audacity to reject the notion that he was the rightful owner?
It had taken until now for the blonde nation to find out about said rejection, and ultimately that was what fueled his decision to drag his warmer neighbor all the way to this barren location. He’d prove he was the rightful owner, if he had to… By whatever means.
(But really, Matthew kind of hoped they could just solve it through friendly talking in a much warmer location over some warm tea. It was much more his style.)
“Where are you, you idiot…?” He mumbled quietly as he looked around a little and, for the third time, stomped his booted feet.
His brother should have been there ten minutes ago… Of course, if he knew his brother, he could still be another ten, twenty, or even thirty minutes. Alfred wasn’t exactly keen on the passing of time. Canada could only hope that, for once, his brother might be close to on-time – Standing and freezing himself in the cold while he waited on the other man to arrive “fashionably late” was not exactly his idea of a great time in the frozen North.
“Probably couldn’t find a place to park your oversized plane,” he continued to grumble to himself, shoving his gloves deep into his fur-lined pockets again. Really, 22 degrees (not even in Celsius) wasn’t that cold, but the wind chill that day was numbing him to the bone. He was losing his frozen edge, he feared. “Should just travel with a smaller one… Or start in Alaska and drive over. Not like you don’t have a giant Hummer that would laugh at the ice or anything, Brother…”
He was talking to himself again while waiting. That was just peachy. Matthew snuffled a little and sat himself on a frozen rock to wait for his twin for the time being. At least it was a little warmer that way…
[So, in case any of this needs explaining… This is basically where the United States refused to agree to Canada’s desire to turn the International Waters of the Northwest Passage into Canadian-Owned Waters. While the US is not the only one in the tussle here, they are one of the biggest one’s that continues to stop Canada in their decision. The US refuses to even sign papers that would allow Canada to continue –trying-. Needless to say, that leaves a kinda ticked off Matthew. Well. Passive-Aggressively ticked Matthew.
Imagine the surprise the boys will suffer when they realize Russia is just ONE step ahead of them. C:
Also – I think this is the most befitting forum for this thread? They’re technically still in the North American continent, but they’re also TECHNICALLY in the International Waters area, sooo… D: I just went with what this MOST covers.