M:   Mandara and Poldara chuckled mischievously as they sat down, "it was dad's idea," the kid explained, "it was revenge for what Uncles MA and Kaz did to him and Papa a long time ago, I just went with it. I didn't think it would work so dad and I had a bet, but I lost."

MA cracked his wings open and glared at his brother, "opsden itheu janota." (you dirty snake)

"Everyone knows you like each other, so it's about time you two face the facts." Mandara teased.

"You better sleep with one eye open little brother," MA growled as he lowered his wings.

"Sure, it will be like sleeping with both eyes closed since I can't see out of it."

MA grunted at the joke but decided to end the conversation, merely turning away from Mandara and focused elsewhere.

About half a minute later, everyone's pork roast was brought out and set in front of them, a bottle of Dragon's Breath sauce was placed in the middle of the table so it was easily accessible to everyone.

"We have a few jugs of milk on standby for when people realize they can't handle California reapers and habaneros," Poland said, "Mandy do we still have those wavers?"

Mandara shrugged as he played along, "not sure, I think Kaz took the last one when Thunder dared him to try the sauce, then he burnt it when he started breathing fire."

Poldara was laughing pretty hard at the jokes and even MA cracked a smile.

L:   France, Iremacht, and Germany laughed along but Wehrmacht visibly grimaced and looked at the Dragon Sauce bottle like it was a horrifying secret weapon. When Iremacht reached for the bottle, Wehrmacht gripped his son's arm.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. "The normal spices in Mandara already burn very much. Dragon Sauce is their hottest."

Iremacht shrugged off Wehrmacht's grip and dripped the sauce over his pork roast. "I'll be fine. I built up a spice tolerance a long time ago."

Wehrmacht just stared in horror at the red sauce coating Iremacht's dish. He swallowed and looked away to get rid of the tingling in his tongue. Unfortunately, both Germany and France were adding the sauce to their pork roast as well. They didn't add a whole lot but enough for the flavor.

M:   Mandara and MA were snickering at Wehrmacht's reaction, they knew he was sensitive to spice but right now he looked downright terrified of it.

"Your tolerance won't help you Matchy," MA said, trying to freak out Wehrmacht more, "we once entered this dish into a spice contest that Mexico held, we won 1st place and Mexico couldn't taste anything for a whole week."

Mandara snorted in his water as he remembered that contest, Poldara on the other hand grimaced as MA retold that incident, "I didn't like that trip, everyone looked so miserable when they tried the food."

"Well not everyone can handle spicy stuff Blue-Jay," Mandara said, then flashed Wehrmacht a smug smile, "you should have seen what happened to the great Wehrmacht when Germany snuck spice in his beef stew, or should I say 'spithe'."

L:   Wehrmacht went red in the face with embarrassment and muttered, "Oh be quiet." He turned apologetically to Iremacht but his son was already cutting off a piece of pork roast and popping it into his mouth.

Iremacht chewed for a bit, swallowed, and immediately started coughing.

"MACHTY!" Wehrmacht pounced forward and smacked Iremacht's back. "Machty, is it your throat? Are you okay? How much did you eat? Does it hurt?"

"No—fuck, Vater, the only thing that hurts is you hitting me," Iremacht wheezed.

Wehrmacht stopped smacking but still looked nervous as Iremacht straightened himself and requested a glass of water.

"It's not too bad," said Iremacht hoarsely. "Surprised me at first, that's all." He drank the water and went for another piece, chewing this one more slowly now.

M:   Everyone jumped in response to Wehrmacht's sudden movement, he could definitely move quickly when he was tense.

"I don't know who was affected more by the sauce, that was the fastest I have ever seen someone move," Poldara commented.

"Yeah, and I don't know who I should ask is ok," Poland agreed, "Wehrmacht, we were just teasing about the spiciness, we didn't mean to make you so nervous."

L:   "Overprotective much?" Iremacht said, rolling his eyes. Wehrmacht scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and muttered an apology before busying himself with his own pork roast.

Germany sniffed and said to Iremacht, "If you hadn't been such a hassle to raise, my uncle wouldn't need to charge his nerves all the time. One day he'll get a heart attack and then you'll understand how much he's aged because of you."

"Wehrmacht will be fine," France said. She gestured around the table. "There are plenty of old people here and we haven't dropped dead yet."

"Fair enough. But are any of your kids like Iremacht here?"

"Why yes," France said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Only mine wears shades."

Iremacht's lips turned down. That was one country that he did not get along with, especially not with the entity CIA.

M:   "I don't see the similarity," MA said, "sure he is arrogant and doesn't have a filter, but his ego is at least twenty times greater than Iremacht. I can not begin to tell you how much he boasts about his 'superior democracy' and his military power, I swear it's like talking to Austria-Hungary all over again."

Mandara grunted at the mention of A-H, "at least he wasn't as bloodthirsty as that psychopath." he muttered under his breath.

"I like Mr. Amarica," Poldara chimed in, "he's fun to hang around with, though his jokes could be better."

"Blue-Jay, your just too young to understand them," Poland said, then looked to France, "on that note, you need to teach him to stop telling my son sex jokes, he's only 12."

L:   France looked surprised that America had been saying such things. She gave Poland a tight smile and said, "Of course." America was in for some infamous motherly scolding.

Iremacht was more unhappy that Poldara had taken a liking to America. But the young militant kept his tone nonchalant as he said to France and Poland, "What good would it do? You can reprimand him all you want but he does have the power to back himself up. You might make some progress if you bring Russia or China along - even then, I doubt the great USA would listen."

"He's a formidable opponent," Wehrmacht said. "I respect him." When Iremacht shot him a glare, Wehrmacht clarified, "Back then, of course. I have no idea what he's turned into now."

M:   "Russia says he's gotten really paranoid lately," Mandara said, "apparently his president had rallied a bunch of protesters to storm his capital building to stop votes from being counted and to murder a few political members."

"Oh, I remember that," Poland sighed, "Poor America was so terrified that he left his country to hide with Russia, I think he returned a few months ago but Russia is really worried about him."

"Well they are married, I would be worried if he wasn't," MA added.

L:   "That sounds like normal American behavior to me," Iremacht mumbled about the riot.

"And here I thought you caused it," Germany said to his cousin.

"Do you automatically assume I cause every riot that's big enough to broadcast on world television?" Iremacht smirked.

"Yes," both Germany and France said simultaneously.

Wehrmacht just shook his head wearily and said, "It seems things have calmed down a bit now. I don't exactly know how American government works but there's a new administration in power." He smiled at Poldara. "We're not boring you, are we? It's good for militants to know a little bit about politics and the crazy things our countries do sometimes."

M:   "No, I don't mind listening to grown-up conversations," Poldara responded, "I think it's cool when people talk about what countries do to each other."

"You know that countries can be pretty mean when it comes to international relationships Poldara," Mandara reminded him, "most countries aren't as friendly as all of us and will hurt other countries if they get in their way."

"I know," Poldara said, he knew the stories all too well about the thirst for dominance within countries, "but at least things are better now, right?"

Mandara stared at him, then smiled half-heartedly, "sure my Blue-Jay." he rubbed his wing against his son's in reassurance, but his rueful smile never left his face.

L:   "It's a byproduct of globalization," Iremacht said. He doused his last bit of pork roast with some more Dragon's Breath sauce. "Politics is a game of survival. Make it global and you get lots of hurt and war and shit." He braced himself and ate the rest of the meat, handling the spice a little better this time.

After finishing his water, Iremacht said to Poldara, "You're right though, things have improved. For us at least. We live in a rosy view of the world and there are plenty of countries whose people still have it bad. But if anything happens, you have all of us to protect you."

"I didn't know you had big brother material in you," Wehrmacht joked, trying to lighten the mood since he noticed Mandara's sad energy. "Ireland and I should've gotten you a sibling."

"Ew. Let me guess, a Wehrland? No thanks."

M:   "Being a big brother is not a bad thing Iremacht," MA said miffed, "you're the one your sibling looks up to for guidance and you're the one who protects them from danger when times are tough. I wouldn't have it any other way, sure my little brother gets on my nerves sometimes, but that's what brothers do, and I love him all the same."

Mandara smiled at MA, "so does that mean you forgive me for setting you and Belarus up?"

"No, I'm getting you back for that later," MA growled, Belarus looked like she was about to choke on her water when the conversation changed to that.

L:   "I'm sure my father would love to have TWO delinquents running around then," Iremacht said sarcastically.

"OR," Wehrmacht said, "I could have two angel children, with the older one being much more responsible."

"Good for Poldara then," Iremacht said. "WHEN Belarus and MA have a kid, Polds can be the big brother."

France was prepared to reach out and pat Belarus on the back in case she started choking again. And Germany noted that the conversation had gone back to parenting and love - two things he had absolutely no experience with - and decided it was a good time to call it a day.

"Tomorrow is the special day, I suggest we all head to bed and get a good night's rest," he said.

M:   This time Belarus did start coughing at Iremacht's comment, it was very surprising and slightly uncalled-for. MA looked alarmed and was going to pat Belarus as well, but she recovered quickly and shot Iremacht a death glare.

"That was extremely uncalled-for Iremacht," she spat, "I kissed him to get you guys off our asses, that doesn't mean we are having kids."

"Bel, calm down, it was a joke," MA said, "an uncalled-for one sure, but he didn't mean it."

Belarus glared at MA for defending Iremacht, but huffed and stood up, "whatever, Germany's right, we should get some rest, goodnight everyone." she then left without another word.