Artistic Impressions

A/N: The Principality of Wy is the artist…so how does she interpret the events of the past year?

Uncle Warrigal wandered into the house and nearly tripped over Kylie, as she was huddled on the floor working on something. "Sorry Kylie love, I didn't see you there," he said as he made sure she was alright.

"No worries Uncle," she replied. "I didn't realise that I was in the way," she added sheepishly as she moved her art supplies.

Uncle Warrigal wandered into the kitchen and found Shane making sandwiches for lunch. "G'day Uncle," he grinned, handing the elder a sandwich.

"Ta Kid," he thanked. "What's Ky working on?" he asked as he took a bite.

Shane sighed. "She realised that the year's almost over and decided that she needed to do a year in review," he answered.

"Ouch…"

"Yeah," Shane agreed.

A little later that day, Shane was lounging out on the veranda with the other Pacific islands and discussing trade deals when they heard the music coming from Kylie's room.

"She's still working on the fireworks thing?" Kiri asked.

"Nah she turned that in months ago," Shane replied. "I think it might be for her 'year in review' project that she's obsessing over at the moment."

"Oh boy," Fa'a gulped. The Samoan placed a tender hand on Kiri's knee in sympathy.

"I wonder if we can get Aunty and Uncle to whip out the ancient magic for next year," Kiri murmured.

"I don't think we can handle another 2011," Rangi agreed.

"And I didn't get it nearly as bad as Kiku did," Kiri sniffled, as her mind drifted back to the awful February afternoon.

"That's one I reckon he wished he didn't one up ya on," Shane agreed.

Evening had rolled around and Aunty Aroha watched perplexed as Kylie wandered by. Kylie put her hand over the mobile for a moment to greet the Maori elder. "G'day Aunty," she grinned, hugging her around the waist.

"Kia Ora Sweetie," Aunty Aroha replied, patting her hair. Kylie let go and returned to her conversation on the mobile.

"Ja…Ja? Danke!" Aunty Aroha puzzled at when Kylie had learned to speak German.

Shane caught on to the confused look on Aunty Aroha's face. "Languages are just verbal art to her. Ky's got a knack for 'em."

"Nifty knack to have," Aunty Aroha declared.

The following morning, Kylie had risen early and left the house for the World Head Quarters and the yearly wrap up meeting that had been called. She took her art project with her.

World Head Quarters; December 30th.

"So for the upcoming year we resolve to settle this money issue," Germany declared as he wrapped the meeting up. Several of the European nations shot each other dirty looks of accusation, but remained silent. "Now, one of the micro nations has proven to be rather observant, and has produced a year in review," Ludwig stated. Monaco looked over at Sealand and Christiania in surprise. Sealand shrugged at her while Christiania shook his head after taking a long drag from his joint. "If the Principality of Wy would come up here please?"

Kylie made her way to the front where Ludwig was standing and hopped up to the podium. "Ta mate. 2011 was eventful yeah? I'm an artist by nature and I had to do something to commemorate this year. May 2012 be a damn sight better," she concluded. The lights darkened in the hall and the projection screen lit up.

The backdrop was the Auckland Sky Tower and fireworks. It shifted to the Sydney Harbour and the impressive show that always made the rest of the world envious. Countries cheered or pointed when their landmarks were lit up by fireworks, heralding in the New Year. Kylie had used the soundtrack to the Sydney show for this portion of her piece. Countries around the hall smiled as they recalled the last New Year's celebrations. The joy was short lived as the screen went dark and the music faded.

Blood red colour bled into the scene, set to Middle Eastern pop music. The colour shifted and blended with other colours that had leaked into the frame until they formed the image of Tunisia's latest postage stamp. A simple food vender pictured with his cart. The Arabic nations blinked tears away as images from the Arab Spring took the place of the Mohamed Bouazizi commemorative stamp. Colours shifted and merged with news footage of several major uprisings across the Middle East. Egypt let the tears flow at the image of Christians protecting Muslims at prayer in Tahrir Square. His revolution was still in full swing.

The images and colours faded before flaring back up to London on fire. Arthur let his lips set in a grim line as the images of the London protests flashed across the screen. Alfred got contemplative as images from the Occupy Wall Street movement took over. Matthew looked away when the image of a man comforting his wounded girlfriend amid rioting sports fans popped up. Images from various wars around the world erupted onto the screen in violent succession. Crowds in Greece, Spain, and Italy protesting strict austerity measures danced to life on the screen. The European countries glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes as the protest images continued. Chaos turned to a serene scene of flowers and candles amid Norwegian flags. The Nordics all looked to their brother with sympathy.

The colours turned a dark grey and the Philippines cringed. The news commentary in the background told the island nation that the storm was not her recent nightmare, but the storm that hit Australia at the beginning of the year. Rangi and Shane shared an understanding glance, as they had both worked in the affected areas and helped with the recovery. Kiri looked to her right and spied Kiku; she knew what had to be coming. Sure enough as she placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, images from Christchurch took over. Kiku took Kiri's hand as Christchurch faded to Sendai and the nightmarish wall of black water surging across the land from the sea. Several countries reached out and hugged or patted the two countries in a show of solidarity. Iceland's breath hitched in awe as images from various volcanic eruptions swept across the screen. Only one of them was his, the rest he knew though. Countries around the hall swallowed or wept silently as images of fire, flood, drought, or storms flashed on the screen.

Images of disaster gave way to those who had passed. Images of actors, actresses, musicians, artists, politicians, writers both loved and loathed came and went to the sounds of a gentle ballad. Alfred swallowed back tears of joy as the image of a crowd at a baseball game began chanting 'USA'. The chants shifted to crowds in New York and Washington DC as the announcement of the death of one of the darkest personas of the era played in the background.

The light faded until the screen turned black, but only for a moment. The image of a flickering candle came to life and the scene shifted back to England and large crowds again, only this time they were gathered together in celebration. The image of the young prince kissing his princess on their wedding day made several British Commonwealth countries smile. Shane groaned as Kiri laughed when the image shifted to her rugby team celebrating their world cup win. Kiku shook his head at her and almost missed the image Kylie had picked of his people celebrating. Gentle cherry blossoms fluttered in the air as children raced through Peace Park in Hiroshima. Parties and celebrations from around the world flickered across the screen, brightening up the dark mood the earlier part of the piece had created. The images faded and the screen darkened until it was only the lone candle flickering in the dark. The word 'Hope' appeared in flowing script in several languages around the candle until the whole screen was filled with the word. The presentation finally ended and the countries applauded Kylie's hard work. They broke up shortly afterwards into smaller groups. Fa'a bent down and gathered Kylie into his arms and hugged her tightly. "That was beautiful," he told her.

"I just hope next year isn't nearly as inspirational as this one has been," Kylie murmured.

FIN. Here's to a less eventful 2012. Happy New Year's!