1) http://nonasuch.tumblr.com/post/141566220050/having-grown-up-in-dc-statues-of-various-dead The statues that come to life
2) Pick another statue, ideally in a different country -- Gallifreya
[AN: This takes the overlap down to 15]
1)
Everyone had agreed that it was the right wings' turn. Well. Everyone in power agreed that it was the right wings' turn. Nobody had listened to the common throng since the last revolution. And since then, those in power had successfully made certain that they would remain in power with a well-paid, well-armed, private militia.
What happened next, though, gave them pause.
The statues of Justice, blindfolded and wielding her two-edged sword, usually found in front of every courthouse, vanished from her plinths. The stone lions outside of libraries and government buildings vanished with her.
One by one, statues of great men and women disappeared. All of them were idols for ideals that all should aspire to.
And finally, the grandest of them all, the guardian and gatekeeper of the nation, the one that was so immense that it could theoretically house hundreds... stepped off her base.
She was too huge to ignore. Striding slowly and carefully between the traces of the civilisation that made her. After it was clear that she was headed to the capital, the other statues came out of hiding. A trotting cavalry of bronze horses and their mounts. Flanked by infantry regiments of Justice. Joined on foot by an assortment of great men and women. Writers, poets, lawmakers and lawbreakers alike.
Those in power had forgotten that they could do this. They certainly remembered, now.
The capital came to a standstill. Statues from all over the nation clogged the streets. Many of them were armed. They ringed the leader's residence like battalions. Silent. Staring. Angry.
He was the first leader in that century to resign. And when the one that the people elected took his place... the statues all saluted him, and returned to their places.
2)
Meanwhile, in Australia...
The Prime Minister looked out at the parliament lawn. "Ogleby... why the hell did we have to have so bloody many Queen Victorias?"
"Ancient patriotism?"
She sighed. "Anyway, they are not amused. Again. Who's the best florid speaker we've got?"
"Um. Papalovakis managed to win them over, last time. Oh, and Davies has some experience with Shakespeare."
"Shakespeare's too old. Tudor era. Way before Victoria. Think Sense and Sensibility, will you?"
Ogleby gawped in realisation. "Oooooohhh... Riiiiiight. Yeah. Um. Yeah, I'll look up the ones who're into Steampunk."
"On our side, please. I'm trying to give every Aussie citizen a fair deal, here."
Ogleby sucked his teeth. "Oooh, that's gonna be a hard sell. She's a racist old cow."
"Well, maybe, but we don't wanna tell her that. Tell Papalovakis to give the bitch the old Razzle Dazzle. Good of the empire, blah blah blah. All that rot."
"Right-oh." Ogleby left on his mission.
And, once alone, the Prime Minister had another Tim Tam. It was that kind of day.
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