Dark For All Of Me [3/?]
anonymous
May 1 2010, 06:51:55 UTC
There may have been a hint of bitterness in his voice, but Austria chose to overlook it.
“From what I’ve heard, that doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.”
“It depends on what you’ve heard.” And there, Austria finally saw the boy smirking through the words, with a chest that swelled subtly and a chin that rose by a notch. He had learnt how to be proud. “Because it tends to be a very big problem for the people fighting on the opposite end of the battlefield.”
He’d learnt to be smug, too.
Austria’s expression was amused. “I suppose you’ve finally been using your swordarm.”
“If you mean beyond signing treaties, then yes.” Portugal shook his head. “Unfortunately, my friends have been poisoned into rebellion.”
England. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s a topic I try not to think about too much,” Portugal replied warily. “But I don’t expect it to last very long. A few decades, at most.”
“You’ve been educated well.”
“I suppose.”
“My, is that modesty? After such bold conversation?”
“My lord,” Portugal eyed him, eyes not quite twinkling. “I would venture to question your ability to discern the quality of my education when yours seems to be so very lacking.”
Austria frowned. “Agreed. I take back what I said, your rudeness is overwhelmingly volatile.”
Portugal finally smirked. His eyes were on Austria’s legs.
More specifically, the Italian child whose lace-trimmed gown was caught in the more ornate embellishments of Austria’s coat and was struggling to untangle himself.
Austria felt his fingers twitch.
“If you were just a little younger, I’d have boxed your ears,” Austria said stiffly, flush with embarrassment as he remained still and glared at Italy to refrain from making it worse. He gestured sharply for his attendant to enter. He did so, bowing and gently kneeling by the pair, quickly working Italy out of his bind.
“You mean ‘shorter’, I’m sure.”
“Either. It matters little. I’m absolutely certain now your tongue fights more wars than your blade.”
“You’re probably right. And it wins more, too.”
“Hardly becoming of an empire,” Austria grumbled.
“You’re just as stiff as I remember,” Portugal finally laughed, sincerely. “I wondered if old age would change you.”
Pleased that Portugal had finally relaxed but still rather miffed at being on the receiving end of his verbal jabs, Austria’s response was prim and righteously indignant.
“I’d say you aged much more than I in these years apart.”
“That is true,” Portugal said agreeably, hands on his hips as he scanned himself briefly. His mantle partially cloaked his figure, draped across one shoulder. “Handsomely, so you said.”
“Unfortunately, rather. Had I known about your attitude, I would have refrained.”
“Come now,” his smirk was devilish, like a rogue, and Austria could already tell that he was popular with the womenfolk. Like Spain, it was obvious that he was a natural charmer. Unlike Spain, he was well aware of it, and likely exercised it, often, and to his advantage. Austria groaned inwardly and hoped to the high heavens that he would not grow into a quasi-France-and-Prussia. The headaches he’d have to deal with.
“Appearances do deceive,” Austria finally relented. “You are still young.”
“I cannot be expected to be an adult all of the time. Wars are adult. You do not see children stoking feuds,” Portugal complained.
“I might also add that children cannot raise other children.”
Portugal frowned. “What do you mean?”
“That I hope you are far more responsible around your colonies.”
“You needn’t even wonder,” Portugal scoffed, affronted.
“Oh, all right. You are far more trustworthy than any number of nations I care to mention.”
“Thank you,” Portugal smiled in satisfaction.
“Speaking of your colonies, how is that favourite of yours? The one you brought to visit… Malaya?”
It had been the wrong thing to say. Portugal bristled almost immediately and any trace of warmth he may have conceded to Austria disappeared totally.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Portugal almost growled. “Please excuse me.” He bowed and walked out the room, closing it behind him with almost a slam.
Re: Dark For All Of Me [3/?]
anonymous
May 1 2010, 14:20:54 UTC
Totally liked the interaction between Portugal and Austria! and the hints of the Anglo-Portuguese alliance too, I really was disappointed about the lack of this in th fandom, but later I was like 'Wait, why is Portugal with Spain?' and scanned my poor historical knowledge of Portugal and failed to remember anything, but Wikipedia is a life-saver and reminded me of the Iberian Union, and that this union affected the alliance badly, which I failed to remember too. *ashamed to admit it*
And Italy was so adorable! even though I was baffled about Austria not mistaking him for a girl, or are you following the 'breeching' headcanon? Not that I'm complaining, it's more historically accurate that way ..
This fic is one of my favorite fics in the whole fandom! And I learned many things about history from it, it was both enjoyable and educational, so I really thank you for writing such a masterpiece.
Thank you very much for your comments! It warms the cockles of my heart to see people enjoying this fic as much as they do. I have a huge boner for history. I don't know much about European history, so this fic's helped me fix that through diligent, painful research. The complete notes that accompanies this fic is staggering in volume.
Re: Dark For All Of Me [3/?]
anonymous
May 1 2010, 17:57:17 UTC
Portugal is basically a Spain with all the arrogance of youth, but he's better at reading the athmosphere, right? I loved his tongue sparring with Austria, it seems very fitting both for the character and the setting.
Italy, so cuuuuuute... ♥ Austria brought little Italy because he knew it would make Spain happy, too, right? (But I also liked that you mentioned how he's kind of proud of his little colony and wanted to parade him around a little. Austria's not that bad a parental figure, at least until his children try to leave the nest...)
I am also rather surprised by this admission and would like you to elaborate please! This is rather interesting and it's the first comment of its kind that I've come by.
I've actually written several Portugal-Malaya scenes as appendix pieces (they won't appear in the story itself because I feel like they'll sort of sidetrack the plot) that occur in between what I actually post, but as I research a bit deeper, I don't feel like they're too appropriate for this story, so I'm revising some of them. For example, if there were ever any romantic development between them, it would be largely one-sided (Malaya being the one more in love than Portugal) since Portugal's influence is spread far and wide, though Malaya tends to be a more special case than some other colonies. Still, he would never really be devoted just to her because he has 309438480904293 other colonies, and historically speaking, he'd be more attached to Brazil and Macau. I do like the idea of some romantic development between them in any case and will probably just post it up as some alternate canons in my journal.
I also research the OCs until I bleed through my ears.
“From what I’ve heard, that doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.”
“It depends on what you’ve heard.” And there, Austria finally saw the boy smirking through the words, with a chest that swelled subtly and a chin that rose by a notch. He had learnt how to be proud. “Because it tends to be a very big problem for the people fighting on the opposite end of the battlefield.”
He’d learnt to be smug, too.
Austria’s expression was amused. “I suppose you’ve finally been using your swordarm.”
“If you mean beyond signing treaties, then yes.” Portugal shook his head. “Unfortunately, my friends have been poisoned into rebellion.”
England. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s a topic I try not to think about too much,” Portugal replied warily. “But I don’t expect it to last very long. A few decades, at most.”
“You’ve been educated well.”
“I suppose.”
“My, is that modesty? After such bold conversation?”
“My lord,” Portugal eyed him, eyes not quite twinkling. “I would venture to question your ability to discern the quality of my education when yours seems to be so very lacking.”
Austria frowned. “Agreed. I take back what I said, your rudeness is overwhelmingly volatile.”
Portugal finally smirked. His eyes were on Austria’s legs.
More specifically, the Italian child whose lace-trimmed gown was caught in the more ornate embellishments of Austria’s coat and was struggling to untangle himself.
Austria felt his fingers twitch.
“If you were just a little younger, I’d have boxed your ears,” Austria said stiffly, flush with embarrassment as he remained still and glared at Italy to refrain from making it worse. He gestured sharply for his attendant to enter. He did so, bowing and gently kneeling by the pair, quickly working Italy out of his bind.
“You mean ‘shorter’, I’m sure.”
“Either. It matters little. I’m absolutely certain now your tongue fights more wars than your blade.”
“You’re probably right. And it wins more, too.”
“Hardly becoming of an empire,” Austria grumbled.
“You’re just as stiff as I remember,” Portugal finally laughed, sincerely. “I wondered if old age would change you.”
Pleased that Portugal had finally relaxed but still rather miffed at being on the receiving end of his verbal jabs, Austria’s response was prim and righteously indignant.
“I’d say you aged much more than I in these years apart.”
“That is true,” Portugal said agreeably, hands on his hips as he scanned himself briefly. His mantle partially cloaked his figure, draped across one shoulder. “Handsomely, so you said.”
“Unfortunately, rather. Had I known about your attitude, I would have refrained.”
“Come now,” his smirk was devilish, like a rogue, and Austria could already tell that he was popular with the womenfolk. Like Spain, it was obvious that he was a natural charmer. Unlike Spain, he was well aware of it, and likely exercised it, often, and to his advantage. Austria groaned inwardly and hoped to the high heavens that he would not grow into a quasi-France-and-Prussia. The headaches he’d have to deal with.
“Appearances do deceive,” Austria finally relented. “You are still young.”
“I cannot be expected to be an adult all of the time. Wars are adult. You do not see children stoking feuds,” Portugal complained.
“I might also add that children cannot raise other children.”
Portugal frowned. “What do you mean?”
“That I hope you are far more responsible around your colonies.”
“You needn’t even wonder,” Portugal scoffed, affronted.
“Oh, all right. You are far more trustworthy than any number of nations I care to mention.”
“Thank you,” Portugal smiled in satisfaction.
“Speaking of your colonies, how is that favourite of yours? The one you brought to visit… Malaya?”
It had been the wrong thing to say. Portugal bristled almost immediately and any trace of warmth he may have conceded to Austria disappeared totally.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Portugal almost growled. “Please excuse me.” He bowed and walked out the room, closing it behind him with almost a slam.
Spain sighed.
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And Italy was so adorable! even though I was baffled about Austria not mistaking him for a girl, or are you following the 'breeching' headcanon? Not that I'm complaining, it's more historically accurate that way ..
This fic is one of my favorite fics in the whole fandom! And I learned many things about history from it, it was both enjoyable and educational, so I really thank you for writing such a masterpiece.
Reply
In any case, boys and girls wore gowns until they were breeched, and so, in keeping with canon, Austria isn't aware of Italy's gender and just keeps him in gowns/dresses. One of the servants dressed Italy. Italy is wearing something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pr%C3%ADncipe_Baltasar_Carlos,_by_Diego_Velázquez.jpg
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Italy, so cuuuuuute... ♥ Austria brought little Italy because he knew it would make Spain happy, too, right? (But I also liked that you mentioned how he's kind of proud of his little colony and wanted to parade him around a little. Austria's not that bad a parental figure, at least until his children try to leave the nest...)
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This makes me sad there's no Portugal in canon...
Reply
I've actually written several Portugal-Malaya scenes as appendix pieces (they won't appear in the story itself because I feel like they'll sort of sidetrack the plot) that occur in between what I actually post, but as I research a bit deeper, I don't feel like they're too appropriate for this story, so I'm revising some of them. For example, if there were ever any romantic development between them, it would be largely one-sided (Malaya being the one more in love than Portugal) since Portugal's influence is spread far and wide, though Malaya tends to be a more special case than some other colonies. Still, he would never really be devoted just to her because he has 309438480904293 other colonies, and historically speaking, he'd be more attached to Brazil and Macau. I do like the idea of some romantic development between them in any case and will probably just post it up as some alternate canons in my journal.
I also research the OCs until I bleed through my ears.
Reply
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