The Country Freezes Over

"There is no space laser!" Gov answered defensively as Florida fiddled with the beads in his hands.

"Suuure there isn't." Florida winked again in an over exaggerated manner and snickered to himself.

Before Gov could refute Florida again, Arizona teleported to the table with a nervous expression on his face.

"Hey uh...What would the punishment be if I accidentally killed Arkansas?"

"You did what?!" Gov exclaimed.

"Wait did Zonie seriously kill another state before me?" Florida asked with an offended look on his face.

Massachusetts glared at the southern state, "Oh please, we all know I would go off the handle first."

"I didn't mean to kill him! I just saw him standing in the living room and tried to say "hi" but then he just collapsed and I didn't stay long enough to see what happened afterwards?" Arizona wrung his hands anxiously.

Massachusetts rolled his eyes in disappointment, "False alarm, he's just an idiot who doesn't know what's going on with the weather, just like you."

"Which means I can still beat him to killing one of you guys!"

"Enough you two! No one is killing anyone!" Gov turned to Arizona, "Arizona you did nothing wrong, Arkansas is just being effected by the weather in his state."

"Oooh," Arizona nodded in vague understanding, "yeah I decided to opt out this winter."

Once again Florida became offended. "That's literally my thing."

California gave Florida a glare, "You aren't the only one who can ignore cold weather."

Gov interrupted the two before another fight could start, "We are not starting another argument when there are more important matters at hand. I think we should gather all the states most effected by this weather and keep them in them in the living room so it will be easier to monitor and tend to them."

"And why the [speaks Boston] would we do that for them?"

"Because they need help, and we're not just going to let them suffer through this alone."

New Jersey grunted at this, "What's this "we" junk?"

"Well I would hope that you would want to help your fellow states, especially so you don't have to hear them complain any longer than you have to."

Neither Massachusetts nor New Jersey looked convinced. Arizona and California seemed to be contemplating it at least. Strangely it seemed that Florida was most ready to help. Or rather, he was staring worriedly at Louisiana, who had gone quiet and whose lips had turned a light shade of blue.

Gov frowned and relented, "Look, if you do this for me, I can figure out some reward. Maybe cash, maybe being left alone for awhile, whatever. I just want to help the states that need it. If any of you were struggling I would try to help you as well."

While they knew sometimes when Gov said that it was bullshit (he did not have as much sway over his domain as he would like people to believe), they also knew that Gov did always show genuine concern for them when they were in trouble.

California was the first to speak after a moment of silence, "What do you want us to do?"

Gov sighed with relief, "Well Louisiana and Texas are in no condition to teleport themselves. So right now let's focus on getting them to the Statehouse living room. I figure Florida will teleport Louisiana-"

"Oh will I?"

"Florida I was not joking about putting that gris gris on you."

"Hey I was just giving him shit! Of course I will!" Florida said quickly, with only the slightest indication that he was nervous about the prospect of having a Cajun curse put on him. Gov looked much more uncomfortable.