Second Missive

[uxoriousemperor]

Where does one procure ink pots and pens in this city? The little stick filled with ink has run dry, and I find myself wanting a proper pen.

Elisabeth, are you by any chance free today? May I call upon you?

Comments

voice;

[altinnin]

You can find proper quills, nibs, and ink pots [insert place here].

[uxoriousemperor]

Thank you, sir. I am most appreciative of the information.

[altinnin]

You're welcome, they were hard enough to find the first time. The little sticks with ink in them are so ugly and crude.

[uxoriousemperor]

They are, aren't they. It seems that people have lost the art of letters as history has progressed, if they are content to write with these odd sticks.

[altinnin]

When and where do you come from, then?

[uxoriousemperor]

I hail from Vienna, Austria during the mid-19th century. And you, sir? From where and when do you come?

[altinnin]

Wiltshire, England, 1996. Draco Malfoy, a pleasure.

[uxoriousemperor]

Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Likewise a pleasure, Mr. Malfoy.

siiigh he's such a suck-up

[altinnin]

I'm honoured, I don't think I've ever met real royalty before, though I assure you my family is very old and well-established in England.

He is a Malfoy^^

[uxoriousemperor]

You are from England? I understand there is currently a war between my country and yours in your time. Lieutenant Van Winkle informed me of this. Might I ask what was the cause?

Still, I shall not hold such difficulties against you, sir, as you are most amiable.

[altinnin]

Well, not in my time, but there has been one. It was the assassination of your - nephew, I think it was - Franz Ferdinand, which set off the First World War, though it was largely a matter of greater politics and balances of power. After the end of the war Austria and Hungary were dissolved and turned into Germany, which then once again started a Second World War.

1/3

[uxoriousemperor]

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2/3

[uxoriousemperor]

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3/3 I love you and your history skills^^

[uxoriousemperor]

I beg your pardon, Mr. Malfoy?

Am I to understand that my empire no longer exists in your time? That Austria and Hungary are little more than words in history texts?

And am I to understand that somehow my nephew is responsible for this?

How is such madness possible? Why would anyone wish to assassinate him? And why would such an attempt precipitate war on such a grand scale? He isn't in the line of succession at all.

surely everyone knows how wwi started!

[altinnin]

I believe, your Majesty, that the assassination was merely an excuse to wage a war that everyone had seen coming for a long time. On its own, a Serb nationalist killing a distant member of your family would not have been such a major incident. But I believe he was immediately in line for the throne. All the European nations were in various military alliances at the time and fighting over colonies and so on.

Everyone but Franz; he hasn't read the memo^^

[uxoriousemperor]

I can see how such a thing might come about, yes, but...Ferdinand? In line for my throne? Is my son truly that useless when he grows up that I have to turn to my nephew?