International relationships~
Okay so this isn’t the headcanon essay. The headcannon essay will probably happen after my shift tomorrow because I am a Winner like that and will spend a better part of 12 hours writing things about how I’ve researched way too much for a BL game.
This is the essay where I talk about the countries, Zhores’ feelings about them, and how they mesh up against his experiences with their politics in his world.
America: Gets top billing because we’re going alphabetically. America is complicated, so very complicated. In Zhores’s world he was raised to believe that America was a racist, sexist country where the rich exploited the poor and the poor could take whatever job they could get. It was also home of a degenerate, immoral, warlike lifestyle with no honesty and that you could buy anything with enough money. This... isn’t too different from some of the things that politicians throw around in mud-slinging battles, unfortunately. Now the topic of propaganda and how much the Soviet population actually bought into it is a essay in and of itself, but it’s safe to say that even before Zhores left Russia, he could safely read between the lines when it came to the stuff.
But there’s a difference between meeting Americans, and meeting America. Most Americans are relatively normal and sane, America is... America. How the hell else do you describe someone who can be alternately dense, observant, cheerful, frightening, easy-going, and godamn determined, sometimes within moments of each other? Zhores doesn’t even try, he just accepts that America is fucking crazy in his own way and slots him in his own category.
But it’s also more then that. Even before Zhores was used to calling countries by their normal titles, he referred to America by his country name. America simply represented too much to call him Alfred. This was the country who was supposed to be everything that was wrong with society, and who had the military power that could start the end of the world. Even if he could try to distance himself from the idea of Russia being in camp by referring to him as Ivan, he couldn’t set aside What America Was. The fact is that America ran counter to this by effectively acting like an adorable puppy (who wasn’t entirely right in the head). Yes, by acting like a stupid, dumb country, he got under Zhores’ skin.
Now these days he knows that America knows more then he lets on. The instincts he retained from the Sekirei game told him that. This also puts him on guard a little, even when he’s being friendly or teasing America. How much does he really know? What is he planning to do? Who is he planning to tell? The fact that America hasn’t said or done anything has him on edge, especially since he’s now involved with...
England: Doesn’t know that he threaded with him as a dog once, so he’s only really seen him from afar. If he had his way, it would stay like that. England is close to the top of the list when it comes to “Oh fuck please don’t let them find out I’m a spy”. The SIS has a physical description of him, plus whatever the hell else Reiner told him. Even if things have blown over, he doesn’t want England to put two and two together and then go looking for more info about the previous Ice Queen.
Estonia: Hasn’t threaded with him yet that I can remember. He just knows Latavia’s description of him, and doesn’t know why Turkey’s standards went down.
Germany: Hoshit, it’s another person he’s vaguely terrified of meeting. He knows absolutely nothing about Germany, but he hopes that Germany doesn’t remember him.
Greece: Just found out that he was a country. Wonders how the hell a daydreamer like that guy could give Turkey so much grief.
Latavia: He doesn’t know the term “yandere” but if he did, he’d call him that. Aside from being crazy (something that Zhores is starting to notice about all the countries, really), he’s almost cute.
-But if Latavia does anything to seriously hurt Turkey, bitch is going down. Drugging him is fine though.
Lithuania: There’s a lot of times that he wonders if Lithuania is still in camp, or if he’s gone home, or if he’s hurt or- yeah, he was really fond of him, which is a little strange how hew times they met. It might be that Zhores thinks that Lituania’s too nice to not end up being abused, even if he seemed tough in the middle ages.
Poland: Fun to mess with and one hell of a ditz.
Prussia: Also complicated, not just a little bit because of ww2. See pretty much anybody growing up in Russia after the war heard nasty stories about the Germans, and no, the war is not exactly something that they “got over”. Even in a 90’s language guide there’s a note about how strongly they feel regarding the war. Even if I didn’t headcanon Zhores as being from St. Petersburg, there would be a mess of baggage anyway. But also he’s lived in Germany and seen how they handle the matter of ww2, so in a way he’s had some time to try and come to terms with it a little.
But much like how America is as much of a symbol as a person to Zhores, Prussia is the first and only representation of Germany he’s met. Unlike America though, Prussia has never been Prussia to him, just East Germany. Prussia doesn’t act like he wants anything to do with the GDR, and moreover painting him as the German army in ww2 also doesn’t fit. If anything Prussia reminded him of Berlin, but he’s not, so it just leaves him with “Gilbert”.
In reality though, he’s starting to mentally use “Prussia” more. He’s been doing research on the Russian/Turkish battles to lord over Turkey, and bits of Prussia’s history keeps popping up. He’s learning more about what Prussia used to be and he can agree that, yeah, that’s the guy he knows. While I don’t want to say that he’s been really thinking about Prussia these days, he’s still fond of him in that “Idiot drinking partner who understands where I’m coming from” way.
Romano: A++ bitchfight, would troll again. I don’t remember if Romano tipped him off that he was a country or not.
Rome: Might be a bit of a whore. By “might” I mean, “I’ve only seen him being a giant hooker with Turkey, but Turkey’s a giant hooker himself :|a” Also fun to troll, but he feels that there’d be some genuinely interesting conversations in there too.
Russia: “FFFFF IT’S AN IVAN GET IN THE CAR” would be his major thought process towards Russia until recently. He’s been absolutely terrified not just of the possibility that Russia would take control of his life again, but of the complete opposite and deny that he was ever affiliated with him. The idea of being rejected by his country would be terrible for him, as even though he hates what his government has done, a lot of his self-identification is based on being Russian. He found it was a lot easier to just keep running and hiding and not deal with either of those fears.
-Until he met Babyrussia. Russia pinged him in the adorable kid, and as much as he would have liked to get the fuck out of there and not tell Russia where he lived, he did. Dealing with Russia as a child took some of the fear out of him, and he’s starting to want to see Russia again in a non-cold war state. He’s... not sure if that’s wise, but he’s kinda stupid when it comes to his country.
Turkey: TURKEYS GET NO ESSAYS UNTIL THEY ESSAY.
Okay I’m weak, and I’ll do it anyway. Turkey is the most complicated of all! The whole being a jerk and then being nice cycle they have frustrates him to no end. He sees a lot of inequalities in the things he’s expected to concede, but Turkey doesn’t have to. He hates that Turkey just doesn’t get that sometimes, he’s confiding in him and that he wouldn’t tell these things to other people. The dark, terribly cynical side of him (the one he mainly listens to) says it’s that Turkey gets it, but he doesn’t give a shit. This doesn’t really help how he’s constantly telling himself that the whole thing is a mistake and that he’s going to get burned.
On the other hand, Turkey put up with a lot of shit from Zhores, and he knows this. While lately it’s taken a turn for the violent, Turkey’s been pretty damn good about Zhores testing him almost every minute they have a conversation, and he seems to show genuine concern for him. It makes things difficult for him because he’s not sure which side he’s going to get out of Turkey when he talks with him. Insert your Russian Roulette joke here.
Also there’s the matter of Zhores vs. political retribution. Zhores knows that he’s mortal, and the needs of an entire country outweigh one dirty commie spy. So really, he knows that on the importance scale he ranks pretty low. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if a) Turkey hadn’t said that he’d protect him and b) the main thing that Zhores needs protection from right now is political. If he could predict Turkey’s actions he would feel better about things, but he can’t. Turkey is both a secular nation and Muslim, he’s emotional but he’s also managed to survive one way or another for a long time, so he wouldn’t make stupid political mistakes. Most importantly, the way Turkey’s hedging his words indicates that ye olde “political talk” that Zhores has learned to translate. It’s hitting a few old triggers, and he knows this, but he also wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up going against the wall and Turkey didn’t stop it.
Overall he’s stupidly in love with Turkey. He really, really wishes he wasn’t, but he can’t change it now and trying to break it off would just be painful without doing any good. He’d really love to dominate Turkey and gain some control over things, but if the last few struggles are any indication, one of these days it’s going to land either one of them in the hospital if they keep it up. Sure he’s willing to take that risk, but after the damage was done he’s not sure that he could avoid feeling guilty if Turkey got hurt. Right now he’s been drinking a bit more to take his mind off things, but when/if Turkey catches on, he’s going to have to face some things that he’s been avoiding.
On the upside, it’s still better then his relationship with Louise!
This is the essay where I talk about the countries, Zhores’ feelings about them, and how they mesh up against his experiences with their politics in his world.
America: Gets top billing because we’re going alphabetically. America is complicated, so very complicated. In Zhores’s world he was raised to believe that America was a racist, sexist country where the rich exploited the poor and the poor could take whatever job they could get. It was also home of a degenerate, immoral, warlike lifestyle with no honesty and that you could buy anything with enough money. This... isn’t too different from some of the things that politicians throw around in mud-slinging battles, unfortunately. Now the topic of propaganda and how much the Soviet population actually bought into it is a essay in and of itself, but it’s safe to say that even before Zhores left Russia, he could safely read between the lines when it came to the stuff.
But there’s a difference between meeting Americans, and meeting America. Most Americans are relatively normal and sane, America is... America. How the hell else do you describe someone who can be alternately dense, observant, cheerful, frightening, easy-going, and godamn determined, sometimes within moments of each other? Zhores doesn’t even try, he just accepts that America is fucking crazy in his own way and slots him in his own category.
But it’s also more then that. Even before Zhores was used to calling countries by their normal titles, he referred to America by his country name. America simply represented too much to call him Alfred. This was the country who was supposed to be everything that was wrong with society, and who had the military power that could start the end of the world. Even if he could try to distance himself from the idea of Russia being in camp by referring to him as Ivan, he couldn’t set aside What America Was. The fact is that America ran counter to this by effectively acting like an adorable puppy (who wasn’t entirely right in the head). Yes, by acting like a stupid, dumb country, he got under Zhores’ skin.
Now these days he knows that America knows more then he lets on. The instincts he retained from the Sekirei game told him that. This also puts him on guard a little, even when he’s being friendly or teasing America. How much does he really know? What is he planning to do? Who is he planning to tell? The fact that America hasn’t said or done anything has him on edge, especially since he’s now involved with...
England: Doesn’t know that he threaded with him as a dog once, so he’s only really seen him from afar. If he had his way, it would stay like that. England is close to the top of the list when it comes to “Oh fuck please don’t let them find out I’m a spy”. The SIS has a physical description of him, plus whatever the hell else Reiner told him. Even if things have blown over, he doesn’t want England to put two and two together and then go looking for more info about the previous Ice Queen.
Estonia: Hasn’t threaded with him yet that I can remember. He just knows Latavia’s description of him, and doesn’t know why Turkey’s standards went down.
Germany: Hoshit, it’s another person he’s vaguely terrified of meeting. He knows absolutely nothing about Germany, but he hopes that Germany doesn’t remember him.
Greece: Just found out that he was a country. Wonders how the hell a daydreamer like that guy could give Turkey so much grief.
Latavia: He doesn’t know the term “yandere” but if he did, he’d call him that. Aside from being crazy (something that Zhores is starting to notice about all the countries, really), he’s almost cute.
-But if Latavia does anything to seriously hurt Turkey, bitch is going down. Drugging him is fine though.
Lithuania: There’s a lot of times that he wonders if Lithuania is still in camp, or if he’s gone home, or if he’s hurt or- yeah, he was really fond of him, which is a little strange how hew times they met. It might be that Zhores thinks that Lituania’s too nice to not end up being abused, even if he seemed tough in the middle ages.
Poland: Fun to mess with and one hell of a ditz.
Prussia: Also complicated, not just a little bit because of ww2. See pretty much anybody growing up in Russia after the war heard nasty stories about the Germans, and no, the war is not exactly something that they “got over”. Even in a 90’s language guide there’s a note about how strongly they feel regarding the war. Even if I didn’t headcanon Zhores as being from St. Petersburg, there would be a mess of baggage anyway. But also he’s lived in Germany and seen how they handle the matter of ww2, so in a way he’s had some time to try and come to terms with it a little.
But much like how America is as much of a symbol as a person to Zhores, Prussia is the first and only representation of Germany he’s met. Unlike America though, Prussia has never been Prussia to him, just East Germany. Prussia doesn’t act like he wants anything to do with the GDR, and moreover painting him as the German army in ww2 also doesn’t fit. If anything Prussia reminded him of Berlin, but he’s not, so it just leaves him with “Gilbert”.
In reality though, he’s starting to mentally use “Prussia” more. He’s been doing research on the Russian/Turkish battles to lord over Turkey, and bits of Prussia’s history keeps popping up. He’s learning more about what Prussia used to be and he can agree that, yeah, that’s the guy he knows. While I don’t want to say that he’s been really thinking about Prussia these days, he’s still fond of him in that “Idiot drinking partner who understands where I’m coming from” way.
Romano: A++ bitchfight, would troll again. I don’t remember if Romano tipped him off that he was a country or not.
Rome: Might be a bit of a whore. By “might” I mean, “I’ve only seen him being a giant hooker with Turkey, but Turkey’s a giant hooker himself :|a” Also fun to troll, but he feels that there’d be some genuinely interesting conversations in there too.
Russia: “FFFFF IT’S AN IVAN GET IN THE CAR” would be his major thought process towards Russia until recently. He’s been absolutely terrified not just of the possibility that Russia would take control of his life again, but of the complete opposite and deny that he was ever affiliated with him. The idea of being rejected by his country would be terrible for him, as even though he hates what his government has done, a lot of his self-identification is based on being Russian. He found it was a lot easier to just keep running and hiding and not deal with either of those fears.
-Until he met Babyrussia. Russia pinged him in the adorable kid, and as much as he would have liked to get the fuck out of there and not tell Russia where he lived, he did. Dealing with Russia as a child took some of the fear out of him, and he’s starting to want to see Russia again in a non-cold war state. He’s... not sure if that’s wise, but he’s kinda stupid when it comes to his country.
Turkey: TURKEYS GET NO ESSAYS UNTIL THEY ESSAY.
Okay I’m weak, and I’ll do it anyway. Turkey is the most complicated of all! The whole being a jerk and then being nice cycle they have frustrates him to no end. He sees a lot of inequalities in the things he’s expected to concede, but Turkey doesn’t have to. He hates that Turkey just doesn’t get that sometimes, he’s confiding in him and that he wouldn’t tell these things to other people. The dark, terribly cynical side of him (the one he mainly listens to) says it’s that Turkey gets it, but he doesn’t give a shit. This doesn’t really help how he’s constantly telling himself that the whole thing is a mistake and that he’s going to get burned.
On the other hand, Turkey put up with a lot of shit from Zhores, and he knows this. While lately it’s taken a turn for the violent, Turkey’s been pretty damn good about Zhores testing him almost every minute they have a conversation, and he seems to show genuine concern for him. It makes things difficult for him because he’s not sure which side he’s going to get out of Turkey when he talks with him. Insert your Russian Roulette joke here.
Also there’s the matter of Zhores vs. political retribution. Zhores knows that he’s mortal, and the needs of an entire country outweigh one dirty commie spy. So really, he knows that on the importance scale he ranks pretty low. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if a) Turkey hadn’t said that he’d protect him and b) the main thing that Zhores needs protection from right now is political. If he could predict Turkey’s actions he would feel better about things, but he can’t. Turkey is both a secular nation and Muslim, he’s emotional but he’s also managed to survive one way or another for a long time, so he wouldn’t make stupid political mistakes. Most importantly, the way Turkey’s hedging his words indicates that ye olde “political talk” that Zhores has learned to translate. It’s hitting a few old triggers, and he knows this, but he also wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up going against the wall and Turkey didn’t stop it.
Overall he’s stupidly in love with Turkey. He really, really wishes he wasn’t, but he can’t change it now and trying to break it off would just be painful without doing any good. He’d really love to dominate Turkey and gain some control over things, but if the last few struggles are any indication, one of these days it’s going to land either one of them in the hospital if they keep it up. Sure he’s willing to take that risk, but after the damage was done he’s not sure that he could avoid feeling guilty if Turkey got hurt. Right now he’s been drinking a bit more to take his mind off things, but when/if Turkey catches on, he’s going to have to face some things that he’s been avoiding.
On the upside, it’s still better then his relationship with Louise!