“ Da Vinki???!”

APH - Nordics

fic premise meme time! alfred, shortly after the revolution, visiting francis at versailles as a means to thank his monarchs (marie antoinette and louis xvi 👀), but alfred is *incredibly* thrown off by the lavish lifestyle of versailles and francis doesn’t exactly seem like himself (perhaps he feels ashamed of the sheer amount of over-indulgence around him? hmmmm) (anyway, this is just an excuse for someone to write versailles!francis hehe)

oooh Versailles francis would be super interesting to write! he would definitely be put off by it. I also headcanon that nations have a sixth-sense kind of gut feeling and he just knows that this is his ticket to disaster. he doesn’t know why but he just knows. also if you don’t mind me adding - I like to think that despite his discomfort he enjoys it to an extent because, well, it feels like he’s caught up to someone. He remembers the lavish palaces of the Roman empire whose boot he lived under and seeing himself reach this level of opulence feels like he’s finally proved himself as, if not superior, then at least equal to old man Romulus

(btw poor Al, his puritan heart won’t be able to take that trip)

I also can’t help but mention what an amazing job @rebelsandtherest did with a similar premise of America visiting France after the revolution in her fic Amity which I highly recommend

for @nordickies dtiys! <3 

i cried real tears on stream over how cute den looks in pink 

Alfred’s favourite holiday is Halloween, because he gets to see his little brother again

this isnt really like. super old historical but 80s america 😳😳

I-

im screaming

potato

Matthew: I think JFK did all that stuff for attention and also so he could have an airport named after him

Alfred: Nah man you got it wrong, he was named after the airport

What do you think England's relationship with Hong Kong is like?

hmmm good question! this is how i think it would’ve been during the Victorian era: from England’s perspective, I see him positioning himself as HK’s “”benefactor”” (laden with all the ironies and caveats of empire), if that makes sense? (China’s perspective would of course, be completely different.) I don’t really see a parental dynamic the way I analogise Arthur and Alfred’s relationship. The closest analogy I can think of as to how England sees it is like a wealthy patron who funds a younger person’s education—those kinds of 19th century dynamics. I guess I’m thinking of the cultural dimension of the British empire here? The way I see it, HK as a teenager being ‘educated’ in the British schooling system in the 19th century is also about instilling certain concepts, ideas and world views too. The aspect of history that I’m trying to incorporate is the historical dynamic of how HK existed within the larger empire—intended as an important port city that further facilitated trade and commercial links across the British empire’s other colonies, as well as the cultural influence and legacy British rule had on HK. Victoria’s reign was an era where the concept of Westernisation was uncritically assumed to be synonymous with modernisation and progress by a lot of people: therefore, in terms of global imperial dynamics, the narrative was that the older, formerly powerful empires Qing China had become stagnant and therefore, its value systems and way of life were outdated etcetera. 

From HK’s perspective, I think he sort of tries to make the best of the situation (he doesn’t have much leverage, between Arthur and Yao, whom are from his perspective, the old world empires with all the cards, even if the latter has been shorn of a lot of prestige after the Opium Wars) and that means sometimes going along with some things. But I do think the end result of all of this is him growing into his own distinct person with a unique way of seeing things, and in some ways he has a perspective of two (and more) different cultural worldviews from it. On this level, this is where I think he has some things in common with Eleanor/Zee (NZ); both being distinctly read as not-English and having to navigate that cultural terrain. I also pretty much can see them both going to university in the 1800s (I already headcanon Zee being educated at the first women’s college at Oxford, whereas I don’t see Alfred, Matthew or Jack/Australia going to university then, at least not until they decide to take it up after WWII). 

HETALIA FANDOM HOW WE FEELIN?

bad