rivers in the dust.

tyranny

❝ Prepare then, say we, prepare ye men of Washington to throw up your hats and huzzah! We are triumphing o're the tyranny and envy of an elder sister...a heavy heart and bitter spirit are encased within the form that bows with such obsequiousness, whilst we leave her in the distance and move onward and upward in our course. ❞

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⋆ 1852.

"You're getting rid of me at your own advantage."

His voice didn't crack, but words bubbled up from deep in Colin's throat on impulse, as if he were going to begin sobbing out of frustration at any moment. He stood there with tight fists at his sides as his twin stood further down the hall, heels clicking on the floor at his pause. Elliot stared straight ahead, books and papers under one arm.
"I may have been naive and sheltered, like you said, but I'm not stupid." Colin squinted at the back of Elliot's head, wasting no time in shooting him intensely aggravated glares. "The less land you have to take care of, the more likely a chance you have to win your own case for statehood, and what better way than to carve away the land everyone deems most useless? The most savage? Especially when it's already petitioning to be let go of."

Elliot moved to hold his belongings to his chest slowly as Colin spoke, gaze roaming to the windows that filtered in sunlight and warmed the floor of the courthouse, cold from the chill of winter.
"...why do you care what my motives are? We'd both be getting what we want."
"What a repulsive question." Colin shot back, nearly hissing. "Why do I care? Have you looked in the mirror recently, Elliot? Or did you forget I existed, or hope that I'd just vanish?"
The Oregonian child's lips pursed momentarily.
"Are you acting out because you're scared? You're not going to vanish."
"Oh, no. I'm not going anywhere."

Hearing the babble of politicians nearby, Colin moved closer, taking calculated steps towards his southern twin. Elliot peered over his shoulder, expression deteriorating from aloof to agitated as he took in the utterly sour way the other was staring at him.
He had seen that in the past, but until now, he'd never been on the receiving end of it.
It stung. He faced him and ignored it.
"Go on. Cut me off. More power to you and the self-proclaimed democracy you've got in the works here. But don't pity me. Don't look at me with sad eyes and figure me hopeless. You've made the mistake of underestimating me, just like the Eastern Americans you wait hand and foot on."
Standing nearly toe-to-toe, Elliot noticed that his once identical brother was a fraction of an inch taller than him. He found himself lifting his eyes up ever so slightly to meet his incessant staring, stirring a feeling of uncertainty within him.

What's with this defiant attitude? What is going on up there? What did that state do to him?

He clicked his tongue and took a step back. "So your idea of maturity is going out of your way to get in my face? What childish behavior. Talk down at Acelin if you're that desperate for a playmate."
Before he could turn back around and be on his way, Colin gripped his shoulder, fingertips digging into the cloth of his shirt. Elliot's eyes widened and he tugged his arm away, though with not enough strength to pull his sleeve from the other's curled fingers.
"You, most of all, are going to regret this."

Elliot grit his teeth and jerked his arm with more intent, ripping it from away from Colin and sending one of his books falling to the floor. The loud clap of its heavy cover against the wood hushed men in the rooms adjacent.
"Alright then, pick a fight! It was a mistake to believe you'd go about this quietly, but you've made it obvious you have no intention of growing up and minding your business!"
"You made me your business, Elliot!" Colin's shouting echoed, prompting heads to poke out of their respective offices. "You dragged me into this mess! You started the fight when you began making decisions for me! I wouldn't be standing here fighting for recognition from men thousands of miles away if it weren't for your sense of entitlement and righteousness!"

Breathing out heavily through his nose, Colin pushed past Elliot, carrying himself with a lifted chin to the door outside. "I am not Tuality. I am not Clackamas. I am not Oregon. I am Columbia and you and I will be representing each other no longer. Mitlite pe kloshe nanitch."

Elliot swallowed thickly, waiting silently for the sound of the door opening and closing. Once it slammed shut he lowered himself to his knees carefully, leaning over to collect the book that had fallen. The Iowa Code.
Tears fell on the cloth binding before someone saw that he was trembling and scurried out of their doorway to help him up, rambling something about resting in the governor's parlor, but it was in one ear and out the other. He bit his lip as he was pushed in the opposite direction of Colin's grand exit.

I already regret everything.

⋅ .   ˚ ×   • .    ˚ ∘

"Mitlite pe kloshe nanitch" is Chinook Jargon, a language Colin and Elliot share, and translates to "wait and you will see".