In His Bones
anonymous
December 10 2009, 15:41:47 UTC
Notes : This fill is written by the same Anon who wrote 'Smoking Mirror', and there are several parts in this fill that are very similar to parts of that fill.
However, 'In His Bones' does not take place in the same universe as 'Smoking Mirror' - it is not the same timeline at all (though both stories were spawned from of the same clutch of plotbunnies, ha ha)
In His Bones - Part 1
anonymous
December 10 2009, 15:45:19 UTC
His first memories are of the earth, dark and warm and nurturing - And so, when the time comes, back to the earth he goes, heedless of the voices of the servants calling him.
" - Ludwig." His brother calls to him, hugging him and picking him up, later.
"Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig. - You'd been hiding out in the gardens again, I hear?"
Ludwig nods, a bit shame-faced. He wasn't hiding, after all.
In His Bones - Part 2
anonymous
December 10 2009, 15:49:08 UTC
" - And you are still going ahead with the coronation?"
Austria's voice is low and controlled - Perhaps too much so.
"Sure I am." His brother drawls.
"You don't really think that I'm going to give up now, do you now."
"And so you crown as the German Empire - a child who can't even transform."
There was a slightly drunken laugh, covered with coughing.
"Are you that desperate for a figurehead that would do your every bidding?"
A clanking sound.
" - There were other possibilities - They are other possibilities, even now. What about Hesse? There are others who are blond and blue-eyed, you know!"
"...Is that the only thing you're worried about?" His brother sighs.
"How much he looks like him?"
And the day comes that he is to be crowned an Empire, and he stands before his to-be Emperor, still in human form
( ... )
In His Bones - Part 3
anonymous
December 10 2009, 15:54:03 UTC
Being the German Empire means, among other things, that he is the one who gets to nag Gilbert into cleaning after himself - Gilbert is rather notoriously untidy when it comes to non-military stuff, and the kitchen after Hurricane Gilbert has visited is an horror to behold.
He also considers it his duty to at least try get his brother out of the bazillion troubles he always seems to gets himself enmired in, though the results about this are mixed, to say the least.
"He's growing, isn't he."
Austria comments, sipping at his glass.
"Yeah, yeah he is. What of it - You expected him to stay a brat for ever?"
There is a pause. The glasses clink.
" - He is going to become taller then you quite soon at this rate, is he not?"
"...Quite possibly. He is supposed to be my Empire, after all
( ... )
In His Bones - Part 4
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:29:20 UTC
The War that would later be called the First World War had been long shimmering in the pot before everything finally blew - The big arms race between England's Household and his own being only one factor among many.
Ludwig is terribly fond of his Kaiserliche Marine (They were going to be better then England's Royal Navy one day, better by far, just you wait -) and his U-boats, too, stealthy beneath the waves. Ships that could navigate under the seas - How fascinating!
His brother Gilbert, on the other hand, just loves his airplanes and Zeppelins - which was just to be expected, of course, though Ludwig sometimes thought about how fast new things seemed to be invented, nowadays, everything changing all the time, like time itself had started to go faster in some strange fashion, and was somewhat - uneasy - about what the future could bring. Though they did seem to be very useful, he did have to admit
( ... )
In His Bones - Part 5
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:33:02 UTC
Italy - whose 'human name' is Feliciano, according what he told him while he was carrying him home in the sack - is small and furry and cream-colored as a cat, somewhat bigger in human shape. In either shape, he never tries to escape at all, which annoys Ludwig in some strange way that he cannot explain properly. It was so - so un-militaryHe feeds him properly anyway, even if he can't really make pasta every day, and even washes him when he comes home drunk and smelling of whiskey after one of his flirting-with-girls non-escapes, in cat-form of all things. Feliciano complains muzzily when he pours warm water over him, but rubs against his hand when he wipes him off with a towl
( ... )
In His Bones - Part 6
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:38:13 UTC
And then the Great War ends, and not in their favor, either.
Ludwig sends Italy - Feliciano - back as soon as the fighting is officially over. Feliciano squirms a bit and says that he wants to say goodbye to 'Heiny', whoever that is, but he goes quietly enough when Ludwig shakes him into cat-form (Ludwig isn't quite sure why that actually worked, but it did) and threw him over the walls, his small bag of belongings after him.
Gilbert - Prussia - loses so much of his lands, Austria and Hungary are made to separate, and France and the other countries all demand ridiculous amounts of money to pay for the damages.
The worst thing, though, is the economy, which seems to be spiraling down into a never-ending pit.
Everybody around him seemed to be miserable except Poland, who had gotten his House back and was happy as a clam, and even his economy was miserable, Ludwig knew.
Not that that seemed to stop Feliks from chasing his Bruder Gilbert around and pulling out his tail-feathers, gloating all the while.
In His Bones - Part 7
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:40:03 UTC
Ludwig takes Gilbert the crow home, back to their House, now chopped in two with half of Gilbert's rooms on the other side of Poland's not-so-little garden path, leading to the sea.
Feliks is - strange, now that he is one once more, Ludwig thinks. The Poland that had used to belong to Prussia and Russia and Austria and the parts that had run off to France and whatnot apparently had all recombined into just one Feliks, and the result is even more fey then the Feliks who had used to drift through Gilbert's rooms sometimes.
And shiny. And colorful. Let us not forget colorful.
"Bruder?" Ludwig calls to Gilbert the crow, nestling against him sleepily.
"Um hum?"
"Poland seems to be...smaller then I remember, somehow. Younger. But shinier, too. He's so colorful"Well, sure he is..." Gilbert grumps. "All the bits and pieces left of him came back together, and then- fires fires burning bright. He's a brand new bird now, yeah... Still nowhere as big or strong as he used to be back in the Commonwealth days, though, thank goodness
( ... )
In His Bones - Part 8
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:44:58 UTC
If anybody had bothered to ask Ludwig, he would have told his Goverment that printing mountains of money to cover the money certain people insisted they had to pay (Mostly France, that is - Damn that idiot Frog) was a Very Bad Idea, but then, nobody had bothered to ask him anything about that, really.
So inflation soared and soared, and the value of money sank like a stone, and Ludwig sat in his House and made Cuckoo Clocks every day, when he wasn't doing other things. What else was he supposed to do, really?
And that was when Italy, for some unphantomable reason, came back,
"Germany, Germany! Please, Germany, give me a job?"
Um, what? Was that Nation insane? Well, he'd suspected that before, but...
"My place is even worse off then yours is, and everybody's going hungry, and my family... I really need a job, Germany! Please?"
Though he really, truly doubted that Italy's economy was actually worse then his was, he ended up giving him a job anyway, printing even more money that was just this side of worthless.
In His Bones - Part 9
anonymous
January 5 2010, 05:50:31 UTC
His life did become somewhat different once Italy - Feliciano - started to hang around his House, Ludwig did have to admit. Even Gilbert seemed to be in a better mood when he talked to Feliciano, and most of his other siblings - His major Providences, that is - seemed to like him, too.
Though he did put his foot down at Feliciano trying to cuddle Gilbert in crow-form. Feliciano was a cat, baa-ing or no baa-ing, and cats should not be cuddling birds.
"But Germany~ Prussia is so cute when you pet his ears or do this along his wings when he's a crow~~"
"No, no, no, no, no - And that is final!"
"...Awww. I wouldn't eat him or anything, Germany..."
In the end, Feliciano ended up doing exactly what he wanted. Well, it was Feliciano, after all.
"You know, Gilbert, Heiny is looking so much better now - His fur is shiny and he's all sleek. His wings are growing in, too
( ... )
Notes : This fill is written by the same Anon who wrote 'Smoking Mirror', and there are several parts in this fill that are very similar to parts of that fill.
However, 'In His Bones' does not take place in the same universe as 'Smoking Mirror' - it is not the same timeline at all (though both stories were spawned from of the same clutch of plotbunnies, ha ha)
This is also a Mystery Crossover.
Reply
" - Ludwig." His brother calls to him, hugging him and picking him up, later.
"Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig. - You'd been hiding out in the gardens again, I hear?"
Ludwig nods, a bit shame-faced. He wasn't hiding, after all.
Not really, not truly.
"...So what do you do out there, hmmmm ( ... )
Reply
Austria's voice is low and controlled - Perhaps too much so.
"Sure I am." His brother drawls.
"You don't really think that I'm going to give up now, do you now."
"And so you crown as the German Empire - a child who can't even transform."
There was a slightly drunken laugh, covered with coughing.
"Are you that desperate for a figurehead that would do your every bidding?"
A clanking sound.
" - There were other possibilities - They are other possibilities, even now. What about Hesse? There are others who are blond and blue-eyed, you know!"
"...Is that the only thing you're worried about?" His brother sighs.
"How much he looks like him?"
And the day comes that he is to be crowned an Empire, and he stands before his to-be Emperor, still in human form ( ... )
Reply
He also considers it his duty to at least try get his brother out of the bazillion troubles he always seems to gets himself enmired in, though the results about this are mixed, to say the least.
"He's growing, isn't he."
Austria comments, sipping at his glass.
"Yeah, yeah he is. What of it - You expected him to stay a brat for ever?"
There is a pause. The glasses clink.
" - He is going to become taller then you quite soon at this rate, is he not?"
"...Quite possibly. He is supposed to be my Empire, after all ( ... )
Reply
Ludwig is terribly fond of his Kaiserliche Marine (They were going to be better then England's Royal Navy one day, better by far, just you wait -) and his U-boats, too, stealthy beneath the waves. Ships that could navigate under the seas - How fascinating!
His brother Gilbert, on the other hand, just loves his airplanes and Zeppelins - which was just to be expected, of course, though Ludwig sometimes thought about how fast new things seemed to be invented, nowadays, everything changing all the time, like time itself had started to go faster in some strange fashion, and was somewhat - uneasy - about what the future could bring. Though they did seem to be very useful, he did have to admit ( ... )
Reply
is small and furry and cream-colored as a cat, somewhat bigger in human shape. In either shape, he never tries to escape at all, which annoys Ludwig in some strange way that he cannot explain properly. It was so - so un-militaryHe feeds him properly anyway, even if he can't really make pasta every day, and even washes him when he comes home drunk and smelling of whiskey after one of his flirting-with-girls non-escapes, in cat-form of all things. Feliciano complains muzzily when he pours warm water over him, but rubs against his hand when he wipes him off with a towl ( ... )
Reply
Ludwig sends Italy - Feliciano - back as soon as the fighting is officially over. Feliciano squirms a bit and says that he wants to say goodbye to 'Heiny', whoever that is, but he goes quietly enough when Ludwig shakes him into cat-form (Ludwig isn't quite sure why that actually worked, but it did) and threw him over the walls, his small bag of belongings after him.
Gilbert - Prussia - loses so much of his lands, Austria and Hungary are made to separate, and France and the other countries all demand ridiculous amounts of money to pay for the damages.
The worst thing, though, is the economy, which seems to be spiraling down into a never-ending pit.
Everybody around him seemed to be miserable except Poland, who had gotten his House back and was happy as a clam, and even his economy was miserable, Ludwig knew.
Not that that seemed to stop Feliks from chasing his Bruder Gilbert around and pulling out his tail-feathers, gloating all the while.
"Ha ha ha ha, your so-called ( ... )
Reply
Feliks is - strange, now that he is one once more, Ludwig thinks. The Poland that had used to belong to Prussia and Russia and Austria and the parts that had run off to France and whatnot apparently had all recombined into just one Feliks, and the result is even more fey then the Feliks who had used to drift through Gilbert's rooms sometimes.
And shiny. And colorful. Let us not forget colorful.
"Bruder?" Ludwig calls to Gilbert the crow, nestling against him sleepily.
"Um hum?"
"Poland seems to be...smaller then I remember, somehow. Younger. But shinier, too. He's so colorful"Well, sure he is..." Gilbert grumps. "All the bits and pieces left of him came back together, and then- fires fires burning bright. He's a brand new bird now, yeah... Still nowhere as big or strong as he used to be back in the Commonwealth days, though, thank goodness ( ... )
Reply
So inflation soared and soared, and the value of money sank like a stone, and Ludwig sat in his House and made Cuckoo Clocks every day, when he wasn't doing other things. What else was he supposed to do, really?
And that was when Italy, for some unphantomable reason, came back,
"Germany, Germany! Please, Germany, give me a job?"
Um, what? Was that Nation insane? Well, he'd suspected that before, but...
"My place is even worse off then yours is, and everybody's going hungry, and my family... I really need a job, Germany! Please?"
Though he really, truly doubted that Italy's economy was actually worse then his was, he ended up giving him a job anyway, printing even more money that was just this side of worthless.
Reply
Though he did put his foot down at Feliciano trying to cuddle Gilbert in crow-form. Feliciano was a cat, baa-ing or no baa-ing, and cats should not be cuddling birds.
"But Germany~ Prussia is so cute when you pet his ears or do this along his wings when he's a crow~~"
"No, no, no, no, no - And that is final!"
"...Awww. I wouldn't eat him or anything, Germany..."
In the end, Feliciano ended up doing exactly what he wanted. Well, it was Feliciano, after all.
"You know, Gilbert, Heiny is looking so much better now - His fur is shiny and he's all sleek. His wings are growing in, too ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment