I'm losing again and take revenge by writing.
Harry Potter movie. It's as if every character (apart from Harry) had about 5 minutes screentime each. But otherwise it is quite nice, but not as impressive as the book I started reading yesterday night:
"Das Erlkönig-Manöver" by R. Löhr. Historic novel FTW!
Starring Goethe, Schiller, Arnim, Humboldt, Kleist, Brentano, and all those lovely guys, and it's set in 1805, so there's a lot of France vs. Germans. Or rather: Napoleon against Germany's genius poets + Humboldt. XD
I've fallen in love with Schiller. Oh Schiller! I never felt any particular sympathy for him but in this novel he's just adorable and he and Goethe make something like a deadpan comedy duo.
All the characters talk just the kind of German you would imagine Goethe & Schiller talking. The humour is sophisticated yet hilarious.
And the good thing is that it's a historic novel with real characters, so they can't die unexpectedly, which is really relaxing to me, because I'm a bearer of the "My favourite character always dies"-curse. At least in novels like that I can be sure that...
wait, did I say it's set in 1805? WTF SCHILLER NOOOOO!!!
...
Somehow I feel pranked now.
Where's the fun in reading when I know for certain that my favourite character will die?! And I read 70 pages already without realizing...
Here comes revenge (makes no sense, whatever):
[Fanfic] Every Day we're getting Closer (1/3)
Author: Glareola Pratincole
Characters: Prussia, Bavaria
Rating: Innocent.
Warnings: English is not my native language and I have never done this before.
Words: 961
Summary: Prussia sees a princess off to Bavaria. Kinky, eh?
*
In the Early Days of October 1842.
Princess Marie of Prussia had been crying in the coach, but during the handing-over ceremony in Bayreuth she appeared calm and composed. Her country watched her closely. He had no official part to enact in this ceremony. He was simply there. If someone asked him for his name, he would answer: Gilbert Beilschmidt - a random figure in the entourage of the Prussian princess. Carrying out the ceremony was the task of the royals and officeholders. Cheering and clapping was for the commons.
He, however, stood quietly in his place.
When he had seen his princess crying in the coach, he had decided to stay a little longer. It was no common practice that a country would stay after the handing-over. But she was so young, only 16 years old, and already homesick for him. Prussia couldn't leave her alone like this. Not in Bavaria.
Fine, so Bavaria had a reputation of being very capable of comforting foreign young princesses. Right now, however, he was nowhere to be seen. He might appear during the following triumphal procession through the Bavarian cities, where the Prussian princess would be presented to the people like a trophy. Or maybe he would appear randomly during the wedding ceremony. Or maybe even later, during the banquet. It was a country's duty to ask the new princess for a dance: Some didn't, for reasons they rarely told. Some were too shy, others were simply capricious.
Sometimes it would take years until a country felt ready to reveal his face, in some quiet place, unexpected and unasked for. Until then, the poor foreigner would feel like an unwanted stranger, homeless in the new country, homesick and desolate. Things like that happened from time to time, although they were not supposed to happen. Gilbert himself had failed at that before, so he knew why he feared for his young princess. He had grown to like her, and didn't wish to see her unhappy.
When the journey continued from Bayreuth, he joined Marie in the coach.
"You're still here?" The question sounded like critique, but the timid movement of her spindly fingers straightening her black hair told him that she was pleased and relieved.
He smiled back, and felt a little odd. Why did he suddenly act shy around his own princess? It wasn't as if he met her for the first time - he had been present at her birth, had played with her in the Silesian gardens, had watched her growing up. But he wasn't good with sensitive women, unlike Bavaria, who acted all charming and silky when it came to timorous girls. Gilbert knew how to fight, but affectionate sweet-talk wasn't his métier.
"Will you stay with me?", Marie suddenly asked. The coach had started to move by now. "Forever?"
"That... no, that is not possible."
"I don't want to be homesick for you."
"I'm sure you won't be homesick. Bavaria is... a good country!" Gilbert's mind started racing for reasons. "He has mountains. You do like mountains, don't you?" He remembered she had loved mountains when she was little. Back then, things had been so easy, he had played with her and even romped about, but now that she was a young lady... when was the last time they had been alone like this?
"Queen Elisabeth showed me pictures", Marie said and looked out of the coach window.
"Oh yes." Gilbert's eyes followed her gaze. There wasn't a single mountain, just rolling green hills in the distance.
"Why are you frowning?"
"I'm not frowning", he said, but his voice had become bitter. That Queen Elisabeth she had just mentioned... That queen had once been a princess, sent to Prussia by Bavaria, 20 years ago. The crown prince had wanted to marry her at all costs and it had taken Prussia four years to convince Bavaria to hand her over. There hadn't been any marriages between Prussia and Bavaria since the reformation and both of them weren't very keen on this sudden love marriage.
When Princess Elisabeth had finally come to Prussia, he had not known how to treat her. He had not asked her for a dance at the wedding, and even in later days he had failed to charm her. She had never opened up to him and he was only talking to her as a person, never as a country. Her rooms in the castle were decorated Bavarian style, and she kept a huge album with pictures of Bavaria, as if he was her lost lover. It was frustrating, even after twenty years.
"Will you also keep pictures of me?", Gilbert eventually asked in a whisper, slightly embarassed by his own question. It wasn't like him to ask a question like that, but they were alone now. Nobody would ever find out.
Marie bent forward and answered in a soft voice: "I will always miss you. Just like Elisabeth misses Bavaria, I'll always miss you." She smiled a tearful smile and took his hand in hers. "Because you're my home. And I love you... especially when you're blushing..."
"Wha-?!" He jerked back his hand to cover his cheek. "I'm not blushing!" But his cheek felt hot.
"I will remember you like that."
"Don't remember me like that!"
Now she was the one to frown: "Then how do you want me to remember you, Gilbert? As a soldier? A knight? A daredevil? That's not special. That's what everyone else sees. But only we get to see you as the timid person you sometimes are."
"Who's we?"
"The princesses. Around us you're always so sweet. Towards men, or towards coarse women, you're never sweet." She smiled, but Gilbert seemed to sincerely regret that he had ever boarded the coach with her.
*
In the second part, Bavaria will make his appearance!
Phew. I'm having issues with the font.
"Das Erlkönig-Manöver" by R. Löhr. Historic novel FTW!
Starring Goethe, Schiller, Arnim, Humboldt, Kleist, Brentano, and all those lovely guys, and it's set in 1805, so there's a lot of France vs. Germans. Or rather: Napoleon against Germany's genius poets + Humboldt. XD
I've fallen in love with Schiller. Oh Schiller! I never felt any particular sympathy for him but in this novel he's just adorable and he and Goethe make something like a deadpan comedy duo.
All the characters talk just the kind of German you would imagine Goethe & Schiller talking. The humour is sophisticated yet hilarious.
And the good thing is that it's a historic novel with real characters, so they can't die unexpectedly, which is really relaxing to me, because I'm a bearer of the "My favourite character always dies"-curse. At least in novels like that I can be sure that...
wait, did I say it's set in 1805? WTF SCHILLER NOOOOO!!!
...
Somehow I feel pranked now.
Where's the fun in reading when I know for certain that my favourite character will die?! And I read 70 pages already without realizing...
Here comes revenge (makes no sense, whatever):
[Fanfic] Every Day we're getting Closer (1/3)
Author: Glareola Pratincole
Characters: Prussia, Bavaria
Rating: Innocent.
Warnings: English is not my native language and I have never done this before.
Words: 961
Summary: Prussia sees a princess off to Bavaria. Kinky, eh?
*
In the Early Days of October 1842.
Princess Marie of Prussia had been crying in the coach, but during the handing-over ceremony in Bayreuth she appeared calm and composed. Her country watched her closely. He had no official part to enact in this ceremony. He was simply there. If someone asked him for his name, he would answer: Gilbert Beilschmidt - a random figure in the entourage of the Prussian princess. Carrying out the ceremony was the task of the royals and officeholders. Cheering and clapping was for the commons.
He, however, stood quietly in his place.
When he had seen his princess crying in the coach, he had decided to stay a little longer. It was no common practice that a country would stay after the handing-over. But she was so young, only 16 years old, and already homesick for him. Prussia couldn't leave her alone like this. Not in Bavaria.
Fine, so Bavaria had a reputation of being very capable of comforting foreign young princesses. Right now, however, he was nowhere to be seen. He might appear during the following triumphal procession through the Bavarian cities, where the Prussian princess would be presented to the people like a trophy. Or maybe he would appear randomly during the wedding ceremony. Or maybe even later, during the banquet. It was a country's duty to ask the new princess for a dance: Some didn't, for reasons they rarely told. Some were too shy, others were simply capricious.
Sometimes it would take years until a country felt ready to reveal his face, in some quiet place, unexpected and unasked for. Until then, the poor foreigner would feel like an unwanted stranger, homeless in the new country, homesick and desolate. Things like that happened from time to time, although they were not supposed to happen. Gilbert himself had failed at that before, so he knew why he feared for his young princess. He had grown to like her, and didn't wish to see her unhappy.
When the journey continued from Bayreuth, he joined Marie in the coach.
"You're still here?" The question sounded like critique, but the timid movement of her spindly fingers straightening her black hair told him that she was pleased and relieved.
He smiled back, and felt a little odd. Why did he suddenly act shy around his own princess? It wasn't as if he met her for the first time - he had been present at her birth, had played with her in the Silesian gardens, had watched her growing up. But he wasn't good with sensitive women, unlike Bavaria, who acted all charming and silky when it came to timorous girls. Gilbert knew how to fight, but affectionate sweet-talk wasn't his métier.
"Will you stay with me?", Marie suddenly asked. The coach had started to move by now. "Forever?"
"That... no, that is not possible."
"I don't want to be homesick for you."
"I'm sure you won't be homesick. Bavaria is... a good country!" Gilbert's mind started racing for reasons. "He has mountains. You do like mountains, don't you?" He remembered she had loved mountains when she was little. Back then, things had been so easy, he had played with her and even romped about, but now that she was a young lady... when was the last time they had been alone like this?
"Queen Elisabeth showed me pictures", Marie said and looked out of the coach window.
"Oh yes." Gilbert's eyes followed her gaze. There wasn't a single mountain, just rolling green hills in the distance.
"Why are you frowning?"
"I'm not frowning", he said, but his voice had become bitter. That Queen Elisabeth she had just mentioned... That queen had once been a princess, sent to Prussia by Bavaria, 20 years ago. The crown prince had wanted to marry her at all costs and it had taken Prussia four years to convince Bavaria to hand her over. There hadn't been any marriages between Prussia and Bavaria since the reformation and both of them weren't very keen on this sudden love marriage.
When Princess Elisabeth had finally come to Prussia, he had not known how to treat her. He had not asked her for a dance at the wedding, and even in later days he had failed to charm her. She had never opened up to him and he was only talking to her as a person, never as a country. Her rooms in the castle were decorated Bavarian style, and she kept a huge album with pictures of Bavaria, as if he was her lost lover. It was frustrating, even after twenty years.
"Will you also keep pictures of me?", Gilbert eventually asked in a whisper, slightly embarassed by his own question. It wasn't like him to ask a question like that, but they were alone now. Nobody would ever find out.
Marie bent forward and answered in a soft voice: "I will always miss you. Just like Elisabeth misses Bavaria, I'll always miss you." She smiled a tearful smile and took his hand in hers. "Because you're my home. And I love you... especially when you're blushing..."
"Wha-?!" He jerked back his hand to cover his cheek. "I'm not blushing!" But his cheek felt hot.
"I will remember you like that."
"Don't remember me like that!"
Now she was the one to frown: "Then how do you want me to remember you, Gilbert? As a soldier? A knight? A daredevil? That's not special. That's what everyone else sees. But only we get to see you as the timid person you sometimes are."
"Who's we?"
"The princesses. Around us you're always so sweet. Towards men, or towards coarse women, you're never sweet." She smiled, but Gilbert seemed to sincerely regret that he had ever boarded the coach with her.
*
In the second part, Bavaria will make his appearance!
Phew. I'm having issues with the font.