#i would say there are a lot in france and spain and perhaps italy?? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bitchapalooza · 3 years

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I got a little carried away with names today. Started with Sweden then went all over the place lmao. I'd like your guys' opinions on the names I've chosen before I ever use them in published works.

Sorry for the long read in advance ^^

Sweden: Berthold— I just like it. Not 100% sold on it though. He still has his canon surname as, as far as I know, there are no issues with it.

Denmark: Mikkel Hanssen— I just like it lol.

Ladonia: Oscar(or Oskar)— Its pretty sweet which is why I'm pretty sure Sweden would have chosen it for him. Not sure which spelling I like better. Shares a surname with Sweden.

Liechenstien: Lotta Vogal— I like em both. Not super sure how correct in origin or popular Lotta is as I keep getting mixed results, often talking about Scandinavian origin and bringing up the name Lottie and how popular that is in America. But it does mention how its used in German speaking countries.

South Italy: Lorenzo— Its from both Italy and Spain so I think it fits Romano well. The meaning not so much but Romano probably picked it because that's how he'd like to see himself one day??

Rome: Gaius Vergilius Crispus— The praenomen Gaius comes from the same root as gaudere, which means to rejoyce, happy which fits Rome to a T. His nomen is Virgilius as a reference to poet Publius Vergilius Maro(Virgil). Crispus as his cognomen because of his curly hair. I wanted Romulus to be his praenomen, however Romulus is not a praenomen whatsoever. It seems to be a nomen. I'm quite fond of Virgilius though to be honest. I actually had to deep dive this one to make sure everything was correct(meaning and order). The praenomen are the given names and those weren't normally used outside of the family(meaning only Romano and Italy would call Rome Gaius). Rather it was either their nomen or cognomen used freely. So I had to keep the importance of each name in mind; I couldn't really find the meaning behind Virgilius except that it is the latinized version of the english Virgil.

Seborga: Alonzo— Finally found a name for Seborga that I think fits better than Romeo! Well I'm still not sure of it for the long run but it does fit better than Romeo at least(in my opinion).

Italies' surname: Russo— Not super sure of this one. Its Sicilan/Southern Italian in origin but quick google searches repeatedly tell me that it has spread to other regions due to internal migration. It's also the second most popular surname in Italy(or that's at least what several sites have told me). I'm not sure if Russo is a good name for all three of the Italy brothers, but I do think its at least a plausible one for Romano. And as Romano is the older brother, perhaps Veneziano just took it some time after unification? Maybe to try and feel closer to the brother he barely grew up with?

Greece's surname: Katsaros— I dunno about this one still. But curly-haired is at least better than being a watermelon. Might change later, might not.

Cyprus: Demetris Georgiou— Not super sure about his name as a whole. Nicos is an alternative given name. Not sure about an alternative surname.

America's middle name: Fitzgerald— Its speculated that the F in his name is a reference to John F. Kennedy(or its Freedom). John F. Kennedy's middle name is Fitzgerald. There you have it. Actually, I honestly didn't know JFK's middle name was Fitzgerald beforehand, I kinda just really liked Fitzgerald as America's middle name already. Then I went into looking up the name's origin and meaning and google just handed this fact to me kinda randomly. Either way, I really do like the ring Alfred Fitzgerald Jones has.

Australia: Kyle King— I just like the name Kyle for him. It sounds nice. No deep reason for choosing Kyle. King, however, I feel like he might have chosen to like say fuck you to England after abandoning him? Like I'm the King now?? I'm in control?? From what I've seen on a few sites, King is a fairly common surname. Also considering Martin or Walker as alternative options.

New Zealand: James Brown— He looks like a James so he is a James. According forebears.io, Brown is the 4th most common surname in New Zealand. I'm not super sold on this surname yet but I do quite like the combination of it with James.

Wy: Charlotte "Charlie"— She gives off a lot of tomboyish vibes to me so I wanted to give her a kinda "boyish" nickname that Australia most likely started. Well it just so happens that Charlotte is a pretty popular name in Australia! She shares Australia's surname.

Hutt River: David— He just looks like a David. Plain and simple. Shares a surname with Australia. Despite being dissolved, I still like his character(and design) so I refuse to acknowledge him being dead lmao.

Molossia: Maximilian "Max" Theodore Jones— I picked a kinda flashy name for him because I tried to think like him while choosing it. He looks up to America. America is often flashy and exaggerated. What better way than to get your mentor's attention than by a name like Maximilian?? And I simply thought Theodore would be a good correlation to the middle name I gave America; they're both references to US presidents(Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy).

Kugelmugel: Tobias— No super deep reason. Its common in Austria in the year(or close to) when was he founded. I think Austria isn't super creative when naming things or people so he picked something common. Kugel probably does not care.

Osaka: Honda Tetsuya— I think he'd share Japan's surname rather than having his own. As for his given name, I chose something pretty common in Japan as a whole. I'm not sure about this choice, however.

Niko Niko Republic: Takahashi Shigeru— Again, picked common names. I didn't think he'd share Japan's surname, especially after dissolving. I thought maybe he'd like his very own name as he chooses his very own life to live out into old age y'know? Not totally confident in these name choices, however.

Monaco: Jules— I'm debating whether I personally like her having the same surname as France or not. I haven't found any alternative surnames yet as I'm not really dwelling on it. Jules, however, I think fits her pretty well.

Holy Roman Empire: Otto— Reference to Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor, as well as Otto von Bismarck to kinda correlate the Germany-HRE theory(whether I 100% believe it not).

I'm honestly considering giving Germany a different surname than Beilschmidt since he was never given one by Hima in the first place(even stated there was a reason for that). I'm not sure if I will or not because I'm still looking into surnames for HRE, which I'm having a hard time doing so if I'm honest. Its harder than picking Rome's tria nomina lol.

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froggi-mushroom · 3 years

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So as I said earlier, I’ve finally started covering Germany’s attempts at forming an alliance with Britain and because of that, I’ve got many thoughts about Gereng in this particular time period so I’m gonna ramble about that below the cut real quick

So, as of right now we’re in the 1890s (on a side note, the fashion of this decade is amazing. It’s not my favourite decade of the 19th century, my favourite is a tie between the 1850s and 1860s but still it’s nice) and I’m not gonna give any context for anything because quite frankly there’s a lot, and it took two weeks to get the context out of the way, but just for context for those of you that may be unfamiliar, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, Germany is intent on keeping France isolated as they have a policy of revenge against Germany for the Franco-Prussian war and Britain, whilst having some agreements in the Mediterranean, is still taking their stance of isolation and not getting involved, to give you an abridged run-down of what’s happening

So we get to 1890, Kaiser Wilhelm II is on the throne and Bismarck has just resigned from his position as the Chancellor. This completely changes Germany’s foreign policy from Bismarck’s approach of appeasing everyone and ultimately avoiding war in Europe to Wilhelm’s approach of no longer appeasing Russia and maintaining good relations with the Russians and actively seeking out an alliance with Britain. Now, I’m not gonna elaborate on this because I could honestly talk at length about how this ultimately led to ww1 but I’m not going to because not only do I not have the adequate wealth of knowledge to analyse this and discuss it, I’m also aware that you’re not here for a history lesson, you’re here to read me rambling on about a Hetalia ship so enough of general history, let’s talk about Gereng

So I’ve mentioned that Wilhelm II wants to pursue closer relations with Britain and ultimately ally with them, which puts an interesting perspective on Gereng because right off the bat, we’ve established that Germany wants to have a closer connection with Britain. Not on a personal level, per se, it is clearly a strictly political desire but it is something. We can see that Germany at least admires Britain, and is interested in what can be offered by Britain. Furthermore, it’s safe to assume that he would look up to Britain as he is one of the biggest, most influential empires at the time and perhaps, and this is me going off on my own headcanon here, he almost feels another sort of connection with Britain because, unlike other great European empires (Spain and Rome, most notably) Britain is, to some degree, Germanic (I personally think England is both Germanic and Celtic in his ancestry but that’s a whole other ramble that I’m certain none of you want to read) and this is 100% me going off on my own personal beliefs, feel free to disagree with me, but I do think there is that sort of link in Germany’s head of ‘you’re Germanic, I’m Germanic, I think we can both relate over that’

Now as for Britain, I haven’t got much. I’ve only started learning about this particular topic and therefore I can’t elaborate (I definitely will when I learn more however) but I can say, from what little I know, that Britain is generally uninterested in getting involved with Germany. They have no interest in joining any alliances, and are largely still in a period of isolation from the rest of Europe. Therefore, this interest is very one-sided. That’s all I’ve got to say on Britain, I’m afraid, but I do intend to elaborate when I learn more as I said

Tl;dr: Germany is outside of Britain’s house bashing some pots and pans together asking him to be his boyfriend and Britain is just sat there in his house with a book like ‘does anyone hear anything?’ before ignoring it

#not a reblog for once #hetalia #gereng #froggi rambles

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imanes · 3 years

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Ill soon move to Copenhagen to study abroad!! But i am worried about navigating European society as a black American woman. I dont know how much your identity might overlap with mine but do you have any tips for navigating white European society?? I know it varies by country but any insight into how race is perceive would be appreciated!!

hello! first of all congratulations, studying abroad is such a great opportunity and i hope it'll all go amazingly for you <3 now while a lot of europe is the same in important ways, a lot of europe is also very different in key aspects lmao. i have once heard that denmark was the france of scandinavia, meaning that they were huge assholes. my experiences with danish people confirmed that theory, since one was a huge fascist and the other one was a cunt who never said hello back. with all of that being said, there is still hope for them i guess or at least i choose to believe it bc some day i'd like to visit and i'd hate to feel like they should take one for them team and launch themselves into the sun for the good of humanity

anyways all of that tangent to say: white Europeans are a LOT to deal with. my friend just launched an exhibition about all the shit that she, as a black woman, was told over the years navigating white, belgian spaces. you'll have to deal with a lot of microaggressions, and since europeans have their heads far up their own asses yet think their shit smells like roses, they can't even fathom that they don't live in a mythical post-racial society where they get to be racist in peace because "they aren't americans" -_- as if structural racism was an american phenomenon and not a european construct

i am a non-black muslim woman of colour so there are some things that may overlap between you and i but i do not experience anti-blackness. as an american though, u will "enjoy" a certain amount of leeway because you come from a western country, and therefore aren't the "wrong" kind of migrant for the danish mind, aka a refugee or a migrant from africa or a hijabi. but it doesn't mean that it'll be a walk in the park either. denmark likes to think of itself as a "social democrat" country but social democracy only applies to white people there. however there are many ppl of colour in copenhagen itself and i hope you'll manage to build a support system that will help you navigate and put up with the insanity of denmark. it is a beautiful country from a purely aesthetic perspective but there is a lot of fuckery that is on par with france, but with taller and blonder people (or bald headed neo-nazis).

now i don't want to paint a catastrophising picture for you to only take away the fact that denmark is racist but i do want u to protect ur spirit and mind and kind of steel yourself against potential scenarios that may await u. i even hate to suggest that u actually have to harden urself but it is what it is. i'm not saying that other european countries are inherently better either, belgium is also a lot to take in and so is france or the netherlands or spain or italy and so on. anti-blackness, islamophobia and antisemitism are rampant here but it doesn't necessarily define every single experience of every day, and i do hope you'll end up having a completely different experience than what i'm saying might await you! it is after all a big city and big cities tend to offer a plethora of different (and perhaps more positive) experiences. but in any case know that you aren't alone. the black lives matter movement is gaining a lot of traction throughout europe and i know there's a danish chapter so obviously there's work being done on civil society level to foster a less racist environment. it might be the case that danish ppl are like americans and that u won't really be all that disconcerted with their behavior. but idk and i choose to hope for the best for you! wishing u the best of luck and if u want to rant when u are there my inbox is open!

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eurosong · 3 years

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Undo my ESC 2021 - Semi-final 1

Good afternoon, folks! Every year, I take a look at each semi-final and share what feasible change I would make – as small as changing a few lines of the song or an element of staging, or as big as a different song completely winning a national final – to make it even better (just in my own opinion of course!) This year will be harder than usual, but I’ll try to set aside my conviction that every 2020 artist should have been able to return to see how different SF1 might look. Let’s go!

🇱🇹 Lithuania: PiN was in the Roop's hands, and whilst I fell in love with some of the underdog songs they were up again, most notably Home and Never fall for you again I wouldn't take away the chance away from the Roop. There's nothing I'd change about Discoteque, and I love their nod to On fire, but the way that they also took things in a different direction to last time.

🇸🇮 Slovenia: I may be in a small minority, but I absolutely love Amen and I loved Voda too! Ana Soklič has so much presence and stunning vocals with so much texture and depth; she can sell me pretty much everything. My only change would be to insert Slovenian language lyrics!

🇷🇺 Russia: I was initially really disappointed that we wouldn't see the iconic Little Big on the ESC stage - but I commend the way they wanted to share the limelight with other artists. The unexpected Russian mini-NF ended up being a revelation and very diverse for its size. I liked all three songs, but I think that the best hands down won. There is nothing I have to change to Russian woman, one of the most powerful propositions of the season for me. I just hope juries will value it and we won't see a Telemóveis style situation!

🇸🇪 Sweden: After a year of being happy with the result in Sweden - I was always in Dotter's corner, but who can't love the Mamas? - we return to more familiar terrain of an MF result disgruntling me. Tusse has charisma and talent, but his song is lacklustre at best for me. My fav was, once again, Dotter, and I wish that either she'd taken the win or that the Mamas got their shot at ESC as main artists.

🇦🇺 Australia: I really enjoy Technicolour, one of the more out-of-left-field entries from Oz. I am so intrigued as to what the Diane Warren song offered to Montaigne was like, as I'm certain that this isn't it, but I'm glad she trusted her gut and went for something so distinctive. My one change would be to get rid of the unnecessary key change at the end.

🇲🇰 Macedonia: When there was a nationalistic furore with attempts to stop Vasil from representing MK, I was entirely on his side even though his song for me is one of the least appealing of the edition. I'd still want him to get his chance at ESC - but his Sudbina would have been such a more compelling entry for my taste.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Lesley Roy served nostalgic pop wonderment for the second year in a row, and another song that has etched itself already onto my life's soundtrack. I don't know what I'd change, except perhaps translate one of the choruses into Irish Gaelic - it'd make the message of a return to home even more resonant for me.

🇨🇾 Cyprus: Cyprus and I haven't seen eye to eye for several years now, and it's a shame as they were one of my favourite countries of the 90s. I do enjoy El diablo more than their last trio of songs, but I find it leans too heavy on a clear inspiration from Gaga, which takes away from some of the more original elements of the song. So, I'd rework the chorus, and also change some of the lyrics elsewhere because some lines just flat out make me cringe.

🇳🇴 Norway: I seem to have been in the minority of people delighted at MGP's final results! I had bigger favourites - the rambunctious sea shanty that is Vi er Norge, the kickass empowering Witch woods or the pulsating groove of Playing with fire - but I wouldn't take Tix' win away from him given how meaningful it was for him and what the guy has been through. My change? Revert partially or entirely to the Norwegian version, Ut av mørket; for me, it hits my heart harder.

🇭🇷 Croatia: Sincerely, my biggest disappointment of the NF season potentially - I wish Damir had been internally selected, not just because of my wish to see all ESC'20 alumni return, but because his was the best Croatian song for me since Moja štikla. Tick-tock is harmless but if we can't get a Damir return in this hypothesis, then I'd go for Rijeka, which captivated me with its epicness on first listen and has just risen in my estimation since. Though, given Nina's histrionics after coming second, maybe I'd have Albina perform the song instead.

🇧🇪 Belgium: I was prepared to not be on board with Belgium this year despite my long-lived love for the country - I found Release me, whilst orchestrated beautifully, entirely lacking in dynamism; and I really couldn't stand the way the band dumped Luka unceremoniously. And yet... this lush piece of art is one of my favs of the entire season. And there's something different and singular in Geike's voice. So the only thing I'm changing here are the dudes' attitudes to ESC so that they can value it more, especially Alex.

🇮🇱 Israël: As one of the most naturally charismatic performers of 2020, I had high hopes for Eden's return and the original idea of a mega-NF for her seemed really promising. Instead, we ended up with an uninspired strewing of songs, of which the best didn't even get the chance to be recorded by her. Set me free was my favourite of the three that got to the final, but I feel they've really worsened it with the revamp, in between the hail mary pass of the whistle vote and the extra emphasis on "I'mma". I would have Eden perform Shoulders instead - I don't know how it NQd and think it would allow her to showcase her personality a lot more.

🇷🇴 Romania: I really enjoyed Roxen's selection last year - small but quite diverse, and I felt the best song won. My change would be to have seen a similar national final with 3 or 4 other songs of hers this time, because I'm not convinced in Amnesia anywhere near as much as I was of Alcohol you.

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: I wish they had gone with something at least a bit different rather than this cut, smudge and paste from last year that is so on the nose with its "you loved Cleopatra, so you will love this, won't you?" feel that it even namechecks the previous song. Efendi has a lot of talent and could have shown more diversity here.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: I'm getting used to the surprise revamp of Šum by now, but the question still remains for me, why did they do it? They needed to cut about a minute off the duration of the track, but to me, that doesn't explain why they also had to change the melody in large parts of the song. I'd be tempted to revert to a shortened form version of Šum version 1.

🇲🇹 Malta: Another unpopular opinion, but I'm just not that into the Maltese song this year. The lyrics are great and Destiny has poise and presence and PIPES and I'm sure she'll do well, but the style - a glammed up Electro-Velvet, essentially - doesn't heat me up, and I feel like the different parts of the composition are too dissonant from each other, like we have 2 or 3 songs in one here. My change would be for her to have gone with something more soul-ish in its sound, like AOML was.

And the AQs of this semi

🇩🇪 Germany: How did juries decide upon this, especially when there seems to have been many promising artists in the German selection? No shade against Jendrick who seems like a lovely chap, but the song sounds like the cheerful four chords on a ukulele you hear repeated as royalty free background music on Youtube tutorials, merged with a post-chorus breakdown taken from a Stefan Raab b-side. I would have gotten out my phone book and given Lilly among clouds a call - she gives me the vibes of being able to create something totally show-stopping.

🇳🇱 Netherlands: My original slight disappointment at this was more because of how high I have Grow than any fault of its own. It's another gorgeous composition from Jeangu, with probably the best set of lyrics of the year, and this is going to be a moment. I change nothing.

🇮🇹 Italy: I like Måneskin and their performances at Sanremo were brilliant - but they were far from being at the top of my favourites list. I would have given the win to Madame with Voce, or Ermal with Un milione di cose da dirti. Both would have been my #1 of the entire year, both move me deeply. Madame showcases contemporary Italian style with classic songwriting, whilst Ermal almost created a companion piece to Fai rumore - Diodato wanted to hear the sound of his loved one, whilst Ermal struggles to make a noise and say what he feels about his love.

Join me soon as I take a look at SF2 and its songs (and France, Spain and the UK, the auto-qualifiers from that semi!)

#eurovision 2021 #esc #eurovision #eurovison song contest #opinion #esc 2021

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thatsamericano · 3 years

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How would all the other nations react to America and Romano dating?

I’ve answered for Canada and North Italy, and I’ve also answered for France. I can reblog with links to those posts (and a few additional links since tumblr likes to remove posts with links from the tags), but for now I’ll answer for other nations.

The countries who don’t interact with America or Romano outside of meetings are mostly confused, and to them it seems like the relationship came out of nowhere. A few might feel happy for them in a low-key way or think it’s cute. Others might feel annoyed by America being loud about it or baffled when he comes up to tell them about it since they aren’t really friends with America. But they’ve got their own lives, so it’s not something they think about much after they find out.

Lithuania is happy for them, and he’s relieved that they finally managed to figure things out. He lived with them in the 1920s, and he definitely noticed there was more than friendship between them, but he didn’t try to push them together, even when the mutual pining idiocy was driving him around the bend. He’s quietly amused by the nations that seem so surprised by their relationship, because it was really obvious to him.

Japan is also not particularly surprised. America is his close friend, and if they ever talked about Romano, Japan would know how America felt about him. Romano would have been harder for him to read, even if they are friends, since he keeps his feelings so close to the vest, so Japan might have worried about America’s crush possibly being one-sided. He’s glad that isn’t the case.

Germany isn’t someone Romano or America would have gone to for advice, but I think he might have been able to piece together that America had a crush on Romano based on some similarities with how he used to act around Veneziano. One of my first fics was about America getting flustered by the cheek kissing thing, and Germany basically going “solidarity, bro.” He might have noticed that Romano was less hostile around America in comparison to other people, especially him, but I don’t think he pondered what that may have meant. The relationship benefits him, because America makes Romano happier overall, and because when Romano is focused on America, he isn’t focused on being overprotective of Veneziano. He’s supportive, but at a low-key level since Romano and America’s relationships aren’t something he has a personal investment in.

I’m not sure why, but Prussia often shows up near the end of my fics, right after Romano and America have gotten together, to tease them and make Romano flustered. I think he enjoys getting that kind of reaction out of people because he’s such a troll. He’s mutually friendly with both of them, so the teasing is Prussia’s weird way of saying he’s happy for them.

Belgium thinks it’s sweet, and the way Romano acts around America reminds her in some ways of how Romano used to act when he was a little kid with a crush on her. She’s close enough to Romano to know he has a hard time trusting people, and she’s glad that he seems to have found someone he can trust.

Molossia and Seborga may have picked up on how America and Romano felt, respectively, since they are their brothers (especially Molossia, since America is really obvious about his feelings). Prior to the start of the relationship, Molossia wouldn’t know Romano well, and Seborga wouldn’t know America well, since the micronations don’t seem to spend much time with the regular nations unless they have a reason to be associated with them. They trust their older brothers to make decisions about their own love lives, and they’re happy that they seem to be happy.

Of the people America is close to, England is the most confused about America getting together with Romano. If America ever openly talked about his feelings, he did it with other people (Canada, Lithuania, Japan, possibly France if he was seeking romantic advice). England hasn’t really interacted much with Romano in canon, but I think the mutual tsundere-ness would make their personalities clash. He did seem annoyed by Romano in Chapter 70 of Heta World Stars, when Romano was yelling at England in support of America. Initially, he might have misgivings based on the fact that Romano’s older and more experienced and because this is America’s first relationship. He doesn’t always seem to see America as an adult in canon (nitpicking his grammar, bringing up America’s childhood a lot, etc.), and this might lead him to act like an overprotective father. But America is not above putting England in his place, especially if he says anything that could be construed as an insult against Romano. After that, England would quit being overprotective and make an effort to be polite about the relationship and to Romano, though their personalities might still naturally clash. As the relationship continues and Romano doesn’t do anything to hurt America, England’s overprotective feelings would gradually fade into only a small amount of concern.

There is some canon evidence to suggest Spain doesn’t like America, but he has some positive feelings towards the relationship too. He thought chibi Romano being hostile was cute, so he would think Romano being happy and in love is adorable. And it might be hard for him to dislike America when he’s loudly proclaiming his love for Romano at every given opportunity. Spain might act like an overprotective dad since he has issues seeing Romano as an adult, perhaps worse than England. I could see him threatening to hurt America if he ever broke Romano’s heart. If he scared America or said anything to Romano that insulted America or suggested the relationship was a bad idea, Romano would tell Spain off, and Spain would learn not to do that again. Ultimately, I think Spain would put aside any issues he has with America for Romano’s happiness. And if he was able to get past those issues, he and America could definitely form a Romano mutual appreciation society.

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d-noona · 3 years

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BARTERED BRIDE - Chapter 4

Ch 04 - Lunch Meeting

Kim Namjoon is a ruthless financier used to buying and selling stocks, shares and priceless artifacts. But now Namjoon has his eye on a very different acquisition - Park Han Byeol. Left destitute by her father's recent death, Han Byeol walks into Namjoon's bank looking to extend her overdraft. As Han Byeol needs money and Namjoon needs a wife, he proposes the perfect deal: he'll rescue her financially if she agrees to marry him. But in this marriage of convenience can Han Byeol ever be anything more than just a bartered bride?

Masterlist

"I nearly kept you waiting," said Namjoon. "I came back from the bank at eleven to go run in the park. As I was coming home I saw an old man on a bench who was obviously in need of medical attention. That held me up."

"Do you run everyday?" Han Byeol asks.

"I try to. Are you a runner?"

Han Byeol shook her head. "I play tennis and ski. I don't do work-outs."

He slanted an appraising glance at her figure. Today, in place of a black suit, she was wearing a designer outfit bought on a holiday in Italy. It consisted f a fine jersey-knit top in lilac, a waistcoat in violet, and swirling chevron-striped skirt combining those colors with pink and pale pistachio-green. The audacious color combination was perfect with Han Byeol's dark hair and brown eyes. "You look in great shape," he remarked. "But people in desk jobs like mine need some kind of fitness regime to stave off the bad effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Come and sit down. What would you like to drink before lunch?"

She remembered his remark about the wine she had been drinking when he forced his way in the previous evening. Was he one of those people who drank only mineral water and made everyone who didn't feel on a lower plane? Han Byeol had no intention of allowing him to intimidate her. "A Campari and soda, please," she said firmly.

Namjoon said to the butler, who had been following them at a discreet distance, "A Campari for Miss Park and my usual, please, Curtis." With a silent inclination of the head, the butler withdrew.

"Let's sit over here, shall we?" Namjoon steered her towards a group of comfortable chairs near one of the windows. "Have you finished your packing?"

"Almost"

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep, she had worked on it till long past midnight. At half past nine this morning a dealer whom she had ought a lot of furnishings had come round to buy them back. Luckily Han Byeol had paid for them out of her bank account. Although the money in it had come from her father, technically they were her property, not his. As soon as his business had been forced into receivership, everything her father had owned, including the family home belonged to his business creditors. But the cash the dealer had handed her could go in her pocket. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing if, when Namjoon spelt out the terms of his trade off marriage, she found that she couldn't accept them. Looking up at the elegant cornice around the ceiling and the two crystal chandeliers, their chains swathed with coral tassels at the tops of the heavy cream curtains.

"Are you interested in architecture?" He sounded faintly surprised.

"Sometimes."

The butler came back with their drinks, hers a slight more vivid red than the coral linen slipcovers on some of the sofas, Namjoon's colorless except for a twist of lemon floating among the ice cubes. It could be in or vodka, or it could straight mineral water. Namjoon said, "This was my grandparents' house. My paternal grandmother still lives here when she's not staying with her daughters". I moved here when my father died. We had been living in Ilsan. I have an apartment near Gangnam but I thought you would feel more comfortable being entertained in the main house," he added with a gleam of amusement. After a slight pause, he added "I shall move out when I marry. The province is better for children, if their parents can choose where to live. Most people can't of course."

"Where are you thinking of moving to?" Han Byeol asked.

"I haven't decided." His expression was enigmatic. "Where would you choose to live, given a free choice?"

Han Byeol considered the question. Once the answer would have been "Wherever Yoongi wants to live." She said, "Ideally I'd like more sun than we get in this city. I wouldn't mind living by the sea, getting some fresh air...or a lake would do as long as it has mountains round it. I'd like to look out on mountains...big ones with snow on top."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Sounds as if New Zealand would suit you."

She shook her head. "I'm sure it's a beautiful country but it's too far away from Korea. Have you been there?"

Namjoon nodded. "The scenery's magnificent...when it's not raining. Unreliable weather. I went with old friends, you might know them since they run in the same circles you do. Where have your travels taken you?"

"Mostly to holiday places...the Caribbean in winter...resorts round the Med in summer. My mother's a passionate gardener. She doesn't like travelling alone, even in a group. I've been on some garden tours with her...the south of France, Ireland, California. Where do you for holidays?" Han Byeol takes a sip of her Campari.

"I used to go with my father who also liked someone with him. We went to Japan together and other Pacific Rim countries. I travel a lot for the bank. For pleasure I usually go to France, Greece or Spain. Where would you like to go for our honeymoon?"

The question, tacked on to innocuous small talk, took her by surprise. "I haven't agreed to marry you," she said coldly.

"If you found the idea unthinkable, you wouldn't be here," he said dryly. "Let's be straight with each other Han Byeol. I need you...you need me. It's a sensible, practical arrangement."

She knew that at least the first part of what he said was true, but she wasn't about to admit it. Was it pride that made her reluctant to fall in with his plan too readily? She said, "I'm not clear why you've selected me."

"You're very attractive...as I am sure you're aware." he smiles at her gently.

"Is that all you want from a woman? An acceptable face and figure? Don't you care what I'm like inside?" Han Byeol scoffed.

'I can make some intelligent guesses. People can't hide their characters," he told her casually. "Even in repose a face gives a lot of clues to its owner's temperament. Apart from yesterday's evidence that you have a short fuse, I haven't detected any characteristics I wouldn't like to live with."

His arrogance took her breath away. In that moment of shock, she was struck by the thought it would be both a challenge and public service to bring this man down from his lofty pinnacle and convert him into an acceptably unassuming person. But perhaps it was already too late . One of gran's favorite sayings was, "What's bred in the bone must come out in flesh." Namjoon with his long-boned thoroughbred physique and his handsome features, looked a descendant of generations of men who had felt themselves to be superior beings and never experienced the doubts felt by ordinary people.

In a different, more rough-hewn way, her father had been the same. Probably somewhere far back in Namjoon's ancestry, there had been a man like her father: a rough-diamond unscrupulous go-getter who had founded the Park Fortune. Perhaps if Mr. Park had married someone better equipped to handle him than her quiet and easily cowed mother, her father might have been saved from becoming an overbearing braggart. Whether, at thirty four, Namjoon's essential nature could be modified was problematical. But it could be interesting to try.

She said, "I don't find you as transparent as you seem to find me. It takes me longer to make up my mind about people;"

"You haven't had as much experience of summing up people as I have."

The butler reappeared. "Luncheon is ready when you are, sir."

They ate in a smaller room with a view of a large garden, an oasis of well kept greenery in the heart of the city. The surface of the round Regency breakfast table had a gleaming patina resulting from years of regular polishing' It reflected the colors and shapes of the red-streaked white tulips arranged in a what Han Byeol recognized as an antique tulip pot, its many spouts designed to support the stems of flowers which had once been costly status symbols. The meal began with potted shrimps served with crisp Melba toast, tiny green gherkins and white wine, which they continued to drink with the main course, chicken with minty yogurt dressing.

While they ate Namjoon talked about plays and art shows he had been to recently. It was the kind of conversation made by strangers at formal lunch parties and although his comments were interesting Han Byeol thought his choice of subject was irrelevant to this particular situation. When the butler had withdrawn, leaving them to help themselves to a fruit salad with fromage frais, or to selection of more substantial cheeses, she said, "Why do you want a wife when you could go on having girlfriends and a change them when you get bored?"

Offering her elegant Waterford compote, its apparent fragility emphasizing the powerful but equally elegant form of the hands in which it was cradled, he looked at her with unexpected sternness. "I have a responsibility to my line. I need sons to carry on the traditions established by my predecessors."

She found this solemnly irritating. "Are you expecting me to provide proof of my fertility?" Before she could add that, if he was, he could forget it, Namjoon said, "No, I'm prepared to chance that."

"Big deal!" Han Byeol said sarcastically.

She had a feeling that Namjoon wouldn't hesitate to divorce her if she failed to live up to his expectations in some way. But although he struck her as a monster of cold-hearted self-centeredness, she couldn't deny that he was extraordinarily attractive. Every movement he had made since they sat down had heightened her awareness of the lean and muscular physique inside the well-cut suit and the long legs under the table. His hair was dry now but still had a sheen of health. There was nothing about him suggestive of stress or tension. He seemed entirely relaxed. Yet why did he need to arrange a businesslike marriage instead of falling in love the way people usually did?

Wondering, suddenly, if he might be in the same situation as herself, heartbroken, although it didn't seem likely, she said, "When did you dream up this scheme?"

"It's an idea I've had for some time...probably since my contemporaries started divorcing. I have about a dozen god-children, most whom now have step parents, some official, some not. I don't want that for my children."

"Did you parents stay married?" she asked.

It seemed to her that his face underwent a change. His lips didn't tighten. His eyebrows didn't draw together. But there was a subtle hardening and chilling, reminding her of the impression she had received that morning when they sat on opposite sides of his imposing desk/ Now they were at a table designed for a more intimate and relaxed conversation. But she sensed a change in the atmosphere and knew she had trespassed in an area of his where she was an unwelcome intruder.

"They separated. They were never divorced," he answered.

Han Byeol wanted to ask hold he had been when the separation happened, but something made her hold her tongue. Later, going back to the flat in the taxi he had laid on for her, she regretted her curiousity.

When-in-two people were going to marry, there shouldn't be any "No go" areas between them...or at least none of that nature. His past girlfriends were not her business, but his family life certainly was. She shouldn't have allowed herself to be put off. From now on she wouldn't be, she told herself firmly.

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #kim namjoon #joonie'#RM #bangtan army #rm x reader #rm x original character #rm motherfuckers

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hetamavi · 4 years

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The History Behind “Useless Italy”

Introduction

This post will go into detail on the World War II era history behind the stereotypes that defines Italy’s character and his relationship with Germany. Both during and after covering the history, I’ll go into how Italy’s character reflects that history and point out some inaccuracies in regards to him and his relationship with Germany (Spoilers: There’s a lot). The point of this post isn’t to condemn Hetalia, it’s to inform the people reading this post. The core of the series, and even the name, come from how useless Italy is portrayed as. When consuming this sort of content, I think the actual background behind it is worth knowing. Hetalia is a lighthearted series in large part about stereotypes, but stereotypes can have some very not lighthearted origins. It’s also true that if you’re a Hetalia fan, and you never really look into this history, you’ve been massively misinformed. Hetalia can serve as inspiration to look more into history, but it is not to be treated as a legitimate source for learning history.

One extra note. For most of this post, in regards to Hetalia, I’ll be talking about Italy as in the titular character who represents northern Italy and not Romano. I will briefly bring up Romano as well, but his existence doesn’t detract from anything said here.

Translated panels are taken both from Hetarchive and the Tokyopop translation of volume 1.

The Historical Background

Italy’s character seems to largely be based on stereotypes that Italy’s blunders during World War II were a result of character flaws such as cowardice on the part of Italian soldiers. Factually, however, these stereotypes don’t seem to hold much truth to them. This isn’t something I’ll spend too much time going into detail on, but the actual reasons Italy struggled during WWII has to do with factors such as its involvement in wars in Spain and Africa which came before WWII, lack of resources, and lacking in industrialization. Before even entering the war, it was understood that Italy wouldn’t be prepared for a major war until 1943.

Adding onto the practical reasons mentioned above, Italians really didn’t want to enter the war.

“In fact, few Italians – including Mussolini and Ciano – had much taste for either the war or their ally, and the Italians continued to build fortifications in the Tyrol and contest German influence in the Balkans.” (Understanding Defeat: Reappraising Italy’s Role in World War II)

So why would Italy get involved regardless of all these factors? Fascists leaders such as Mussolini were imperialists who wanted Italy to maximize its status and power within Europe. After Germany had successfully invaded Paris, it looked as if there were an opening for Italy to join in, have a series of quick victories, and then get a share of the success. That political calculus certainly sounded more appealing than potentially allowing only Germany to reap the benefits of the win, leaving a neutral Italy’s future uncertain under German hegemony. So despite the lack of resources, the outdated equipment, and the hesitant Italian public, they entered the war.

To say Germany and Italy’s relationship within Hetalia has some inaccuracies to how Germans and Italians actually interacted throughout the war would be an understatement. In a quote from “Of Myths and Men: Rommel and the Italians in North Africa, 1940-1942”, the relationship is described. “There is no question that the Germans looked down on their ally as racially inferior and friction between the two was endemic and pervasive; Vice Admiral Nomura noted ‘rivalries between Italian and Germans everywhere’ during his trip through the Balkans in late 1942.” There is an abundance of information and quotes supporting this claim, including a German general’s, Christian Eckhard, attempt to explain the friction. His explanation was that Germans held contempt for their allies because Italians knew of the superiority of the Germans and were insubordinate in reaction to that knowledge.

A quote from a German commander and noted Italophile, Albert Kesselring, is “The Italian is easily contented. He actually has only three fashionable passions – coffee, cigarettes, and women.” Another quote from this same commander is that Italians are likable “if one is not repelled by his naturally inherent attributes which are in sharp contrast with the characteristics of people from the North”. Kesselring would later be indicted for his involvement in the Ardeatine massacre which took the lives of 335 Italians (put a pin in that, I’m coming back to it later).

As evidenced by the already described friction, the contempt wasn’t one sided and the Italians were well aware of the hostility and racism towards them. “Count Ciano continually complained in his diary, and popular writers like Aldo Lualdi leave no doubt, that Italy’s German ally was not ‘simpatico’ (‘likable’).” (Of Myths and Men: Rommel and the Italians in North Africa, 1940-1942 )

The racism towards Italians at the time directly relates to the image of them as having been cowardly during the war. German commanders were prone to blaming Italians for whatever failures they endured, whether giving them the blame was warranted or not. Erwin Rommel, also known as the “Desert Fox”, was one notable commander who made a habit out of this. “Rommel increasingly blamed the Italians for his woes, and his disdain reflected the attitude of the German high command. Easily caricatured, Italian soldiers in fact showed flashes of ferocity and tactical competence in North Africa, particularly in infantry skirmishes.” (An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943).

Alongside bigotry and finger pointing occurring on the Axis side, both Allied (most notably British) and German propaganda overstated German competence. “The tendency to attribute Axis successes to the Germans and failures to the Italians seems to have its roots in the conviction that Rommel was a genius who could do no wrong, and the belief that Italians were subject to excessive Latin nervousness and made pitiful soldiers. It is thus normal to dismiss as loss of nerve Graziani’s request for permission to retreat in late 1940, even though a retreat seems to have been what was needed. At the same time, Anglo-American writers tend to depict Rommel’s various retreats as evidence of military genius.” (Understanding Defeat: Reappraising Italy’s Role in World War II)

These interpretations benefited both sides propaganda wise. “Perhaps Faldella was correct to see the myth of Rommel as necessary to allow the English to rationalize their defeats as due to the presence of a genial enemy commander rather than to the valor of German and Italian troops. And the Rommel myth also serves the Germans, who can blame the Italians for their own errors and pusillanimity, even though German commanders such as Paulus and Kesselring found Rommel less than an ideal army commander.” (Understanding Defeat: Reappraising Italy’s Role in World War II).

"We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."

- Winston Churchill on Erwin Rommel

With all that said, this section would be incomplete without talking about the Cold War and how the image of the German military, particularly figures like Rommel, as brilliant and super competent, especially compared to their Italian ally, has been prevalent for so long. After the end of WWII and around the beginning of the Cold War, West Germany was seen as a desirable ally against the Soviet Union (having already fought against them) and the conditions for that to happen involved the rehabilitation of the image of the German military, giving German senior military officials more control over the narrative concerning the events that took place during the war. This also led to the myth of the clean Wehrmacht, the idea that the German military had no culpability in the war crimes that had occurred. Bringing back Kesselring and the massacre he had a role in which resulted in a trial held against him by the British, he was one such war criminal who had his image rehabilitated and there was public sympathy for him, including from Winston Churchill. After initially receiving the death penalty and then having that punishment reduced to life imprisonment, he was released in 1952 despite protests in Italy. Another convicted commander, Max Simon, would have a similar fate to Kesselring in that he was released despite his role in the Marzabotto massacre which took the lives of at least 770 Italians.

Summarizing everything up, the Italians were not prepared for a major war and it was known at the time they wouldn’t have been ready until at least 1943. Despite that, what seemed to be the increasing chance of a Germany victory upon the defeat of France led to Italy entering the war in order to not be left in the dust of potential German hegemony. Alongside being not prepared and being on the receiving end of bigotry, the reputation surrounding Italy’s performance in the war was further damaged by propaganda occurring on both sides that exaggerated German competence and the Cold War making it beneficial for British and Americans to allow biased (often including racially biased) German senior officials to have a major role in defining the narrative concerning what happened during the war.

Italy in Hetalia

Italy’s personification gives the racial biases and misinterpretations against Italians a face and then puts him next to the super competent Germany. Germany is focused and serious. Italy is easily distracted. Germany is tough and brave. Italy couldn’t even endure a cat licking him. Italy is cowardly and incapable of keeping secret information a secret when pressured. Germany is strong-willed and will keep important information a secret no matter what he’s put through. Germany can also tie his shoes. Italy can’t.

Germany is reliable. The name of the series is literally “Useless Italy”.

Putting aside their individual characteristics, as mentioned above, Germany and Italy’s very romanticized relationship within Hetalia isn’t exactly accurate to what took place between the two countries in real life. In Hetalia, the two share a genuine and very close friendship. There’s even Buon San Valentino which showed Germany being willing to enter a romantic relationship with Italy when he misunderstood some friendly gestures on Italy’s part.

Mixed in with those feelings, Germany takes on an almost paternal role towards Italy which further places emphasis on the difference in competence between the two. This goes as far as having Germany having specific instructions for how Italy should be taken care of which he gives to the Allies when they capture Italy. In return, Italy admires Germany, not just for his clear competence, but for his ability to do even things as basic as tie his own shoes.

Here’s where Romano comes in because he is a completely different story when it comes to his relationship with Germany. He hates Germany and he made that clear from the moment they met. However, Romano disliking Germany doesn’t suddenly make Italy’s fondness of Germany make any more sense given the history (especially since Italy represents the half that was occupied where events like the Marzabotto massacre took place).

Conclusion

When consuming media such as Hetalia where the characters are meant to have some relation to real life events, it’s important to understand what you are consuming might not actually reflect reality. What I’ve covered here isn’t the only case of Hetalia not being accurate. But Italy and his characterization as useless in the given historical context (Word War II) was at one point a major feature of the series. Italy was the face of Hetalia and his relationship with Germany was also a significant part of the series. Those facts are what make this specific case of inaccuracy something worth talking about. There is an addition I need to make before closing this out. A lot of this post covers historical information that can almost make fascist Italy seem like another victim of Nazi Germany above all else. And clearly, there were some ways in which Italy was victimized, But Mussolini and other fascists leaders had imperialist ambitions which was motivation for Italy’s involvement in the war. With those ambitions and Italy’s involvement in not only World War II, but the wars preceding it, (the sames ones that were partly why Italy wasn’t prepared for a major war) came war crimes in the countries that were invaded. Just like how it’s untrue that the average Italian was a coward and subject to “Latin nervousness”, it’s also untrue that Italy was harmless.

#hetalia #aph italy #aph germany #hws italy #hws germany #historical hetalia

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taramikealson · 3 years

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New Orleans Is Such A Sight (Pt. #1)

Rain poured down in large sheets, running down the gutters in small waves. The hood to a black rain-coat was tugged tighter to conceal the blonde curls from the harsh winds. Her feet take forceful steps towards a small side street where a lone, cracked open, metal gate stood. Delicate fingers push the gate open a few more inches to allow her access to the inside. At the halt of water that the structure provided her, she pulled the hood off of her head, looking around the space as she did.

The building was beautiful. The high arches, open court-yard, tan walls - bricks revealed where the drywall was missing. It was obvious that the house was old and worn in, but it was kept well enough that it became part of its character.

She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t even be on this continent but leave it to Damon to angering a pack of werewolves a few hours before a full moon.

Caroline hadn’t stayed in Mystic Falls. A year after her mother died, she left. She needed time to cope and space to figure out what she wanted out of life. At first, she was a little scared, staying state-side. Ultimately, after visiting a few states, she braved up and traveled to Italy, and then France. Then Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and finally, London. Caroline spent quite a bit of time there, liking the culture and feel of normal British life. Although, after a while, she became bored with the gloominess of the British city and wanted to move onto more sun-filled places. One of those areas happened to be The Bahamas. The tropical paradise gave her a chance to relax and take in the abundance of sunlight. Caroline enjoyed it quite a bit, laying out on a towel, sunglasses resting on the arch of her nose as she watched the waves fold onto themselves.

She’d barely noticed it, but before she knew it, she’d spent a few months there. Caroline had only meant to stay there for a few weeks for a little breather from the large cities that she had been visiting but had come to enjoy the beach town there. At a local cafe, she had made a friend of the barista and had been subtly flirting with one of the daily’s that came in often, conveniently the same time she always went to grab her morning coffee on Saturdays. One day, she listened in on one of his orders; black coffee and the name he uttered to the barista was David. He was attractive in the average model-ish way. Dark brown hair, square jaw, calm eyes. David was nice and… normal. But, she knew she couldn’t get involved with him. But on the other hand, she couldn’t refuse to go on a date with him. There wasn’t a harm in that, right?

She was a half-hour into the date when she’d gotten a call from Stefan. Normally, she would have ignored it but it was the second time in the span of ten minutes and she knew Stefan doesn’t call more than once unless it’s important. So, she took the call, apologizing to David before walking out of the restaurant. Apparently, a gaggle of werewolves found themselves in Mystic Falls, something about Damon threatening the alpha right before a full moon. When Stefan had explained it, she was confused about why they were calling her, she was thousands of miles away. Then it clicked. Damon got bit and he needed a cure. And her friends knew that she had a personal connection to the cure. Caroline was so close to telling Damon that if he wanted the cure to a werewolf bite, he should have to go to Klaus’ door to beg for it himself, but she knew Klaus wouldn’t budge. In fact, it was probably even a low chance for her to convince him to hand it over to Damon, of all people.

So, what was she doing here? In New Orleans? Saving one of her friends.

A pair of rushed footsteps took her out of her musings. Raising her head, she caught sight of a boy. Light brown hair that was in a fringe up style haircut, slim build, maybe in his late teens. He was jogging down a pair of stairs in the courtyard, looking down at his phone as he did so. Sensing her presence, he looked up to see her, pausing for a second before realizing he was still in the rain. He took a few steps to be under the roof, his head tilting as his blue eyes inspected her.

A similar smirk graced his lips. “If you’re here for Rebekah, you just missed her. Took a flight out to Florence an hour ago.” Something about this boy was familiar. The facial structure, his eyes.

When Klaus had left for New Orleans all those years back, it had been for some sort of rising against him that turned out to be a pregnant girl. Caroline had gotten all the backstory from Tyler in a more biased version but basically, Klaus had slept with Hayley, getting her pregnant. Then, he’d apparently accepted it, having a kid. Klaus had a child. A kid.

He had a kid. This boy was Klaus’ son. The hair, the face, the eyes, the smirk.

Caroline faltered for a moment before catching herself and casting him a small smile. “Do you flirt with all of Rebekah’s friends?”

He laughs softly. “Only the really pretty ones.”

“Trenton.” A voice calls, an all too familiar voice.

Looking across the courtyard, she spots the owner of that voice. He looked the same as always, black jeans, long sleeve Henley, boots, blonde hair subtly pushed up. The Original’s eyes were first trained on his son but picked up on the other presence in the room, looking at her. They widened and dilated a hair before returning to normal, smirk growing on his face.

The boy sighs, shoulders drooping in a defeated manner. His jaw tightening before turning around to face his father.

“Sneaking out, again?” Klaus walks through the courtyard, ignoring the rain as it dampened his hair, before pausing once under shelter and out of the rain.

Trenton clears his throat, glancing towards Caroline then to his father. “I was, uh, I heard someone come in. Thought I’d greet our guest.” Caroline had to give it to him, the boy was quick on his feet and used similar tactics as his father did; charm and deviation.

It was extremely odd and very interesting to watch Klaus act a little fatherly, but not too surprising. He seemed to instinctively have the trait, unlike a lot of human men. He had the capacity to be mature, elegantly answer hard questions, entertain someone with stories of the past, and he knew what the image of a bad father was, surely making sure he was the exact opposite. Caroline could only imagine that his artistic abilities had come into play in the early years of Trenton’s life. But, just seeing both of them, seeing alike they were, was intriguing. If someone hadn’t known that the two weren’t supernatural, they’d most likely assume Klaus to be Trenton’s elder brother. Although, when Caroline saw them, she could clearly see a father with his son. May it be the wisdom and centuries of age in Klaus’ eyes or his mature style in clothing, he looked old enough possibly be Trenton’s father.

Klaus arches an eyebrow in disbelief. “I’d believe that if it weren’t for you prattling on to Rebekah about going to some high school, alcohol-filled gathering. One, in which, I profusely refuse you acceptance to be a part of.”

“You have to be kidding.” Trenton scoffs, saying in that basic teenage-y way. “I’m not some human that’s gonna get wasted easily. I’m a hybrid.”

The Original’s eyes turn serious, indicating that his decision was final. “You prate on about being a hybrid, but have yet to learn to control your bloodlust in densely crowded areas without me or my siblings by your side. I will not risk the local’s lives nor my standing on the city council for you to have one alcohol-fazed night.” Trenton rolls his eyes and Klaus takes a step forward, now intimidating the boy. “We have an assortment of liquor here. If you wish to drink, it will be within these walls. Am I understood?”

“Why can’t-,”

“Trenton, am I understood?” Klaus interrupts, voice low.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually, Trenton bites his tongue and gives his father a curt nod. The boys eyes were filled with aggravation and disappointment, she was sure Klaus saw it and understood that Trenton was hoping to have a little fun tonight. Klaus’ eyes softened as he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“You’re lucky that I don’t plan to tell Elijah about your little scheme. You know how much he values your education. He’d be quite displeased to hear you were planning to stay out late on a school night.” A small smile graced Klaus’ lips as Trenton looked up to him. “Perhaps, even make you re-read that dreadful play, Hamlet.”

Klaus' words seem to make the boy puff out a laugh and inch a smile on his lips. “Thanks, for not telling Uncle ‘lijah.”

“Now, go on. I have a few words to exchange with our guest.”

Trenton nods and then glances to Caroline with an awkward smile. “Night.” He says before turning around and jogging through the rain-filled courtyard and up the stairs. Both Caroline and Klaus watch as he disappears into one of the second-story hallways.

After a moment, Klaus turns back to Caroline with a wide smirk.

“This is quite a surprise. I wasn’t expecting you for nearly another decade and a half.”

She sighs, feeling the weight of his words and the intenseness that his eyes bore. “I’m not here for that.” Her voice a little too soft, the subject weighing on her a little bit more than she thought it would. Klaus recognizes her now uncomfortable stance and raises his arm in the direction to a set of french doors, a fancy ‘M’ insignia on both.

“Then, perhaps we should take this conversation somewhere more private, rather than the courtyard?” He suggests and Caroline nods, thankful that he can still read on some of her subtle hints.

Klaus leads her through the double doors and invites her to make herself comfortable in the living area. As Klaus went to pour them both drinks, she looked around the magnificent room that she was in. Two expensive looking, brown leather, sofas sat across from each other, a fireplace on the back wall, fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a mini-bar where Klaus was pouring their drinks.

Before she knew it, Klaus had placed the drinks down on the coffee table by her legs and was now behind her, reaching for her wet jacket. “May I?”

She nods and shrugs the jacket off. He takes it, walking over to one of the stools near the mini-bar, and hanging it on the back of it.

“I’m sorry for catching you at a bad time and so late at night.” She apologizes and he shakes his head.

“No need for apologies, love. I’d gladly make time for you.” He says, sitting down on the sofa, taking his drink in hand. Caroline also sits, not yet picking up her drink.

His eyes seem to analyze her and take in every detail that he could read off of her, trying to put together pieces in his head. His familiar mechanism and habits gave her a sense of reassurance that he hadn’t changed that much. She could clearly see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of situations as to why she was here, sitting on his couch in his New Orleans home on a very late Thursday night, a rainy one at that. Klaus must have caught her biting her lip because his intense gaze turned into concern. “You seem vexed, what’s happened?”

She swallows and looks away from him. “Damon ran into some werewolves.”

Klaus leans back as he huffs out a laugh. “And I imagine he is now sporting quite a nasty werewolf bite.” The Original’s amusement is not lost on Caroline, she knows how much he dislikes the eldest Salvatore brother, but that is why she was here. Now, he knows her reason for coming to New Orleans.

When his expression showed a hint of disappointment, she felt utterly horrible. It was her that told him that she didn’t want him in her life, it was her that said that he needed to leave and to never come back. Now, she’s intentionally inserting herself back into his life just to leave again. Caroline couldn’t imagine what he would be feeling. Anger, disappointment? “Thus, you need my blood.” He utters, taking a thoughtful sip of his drink.

“Yes.” She answers almost guiltily, her heart heavy.

There’s a moment of silence where neither of them speaks. Klaus seems to ponder his situation as he runs the side of his index finger along his bottom lip in thought. For a moment, Caroline thought that he was going to turn her down, tell her that he wasn’t going to help her and that she had to leave, but that changed when he sighed. Placing his glass of amber liquor down on the coffee table, he stood from his seat and fished his sleek black iPhone from his back pocket.

Klaus tapped a few times before pulling the cellphone to his ear and turning so his back was to her.

“Joshua, do come by the Compound, I have a proposition for you.” He states quickly and then ends the call after he received a reply to his request.

Pushing the iPhone into his back pocket, he turned back around without a glance to her and headed for the mini-bar. From Caroline’s perspective, he seemed a little tense but not angry, although she could be wrong. “Klaus…,” she begins as she gets up from her spot on the sofa and takes a few strides towards where he walks behind the counter, taking out a small vial and cork from underneath. Within an instant, he had already bit into his wrist, his blood now dripping down into the vial. His eyes wander up to hers when he comes out from behind the mini-bar.

Caroline blinks, confused., sure that he was set on not giving his blood to her. In fact, she’s even more surprised that he hadn’t even tried to negotiate with her to have something to gain for his blood. “You’re not asking for anything in return? Won’t even try to negotiate with me?” She asks, clearly perplexed by his actions.

Klaus sighs. “I’ve come to realize that by negotiating between lives and the opportunity to have time spent with you, it hadn’t shown my understanding of the weight of the negotiations that I was making. And I have also come to realize that,” he takes a pause and Caroline swallows as he pushes the cork into the filled vial. His eyes stayed trained onto her as he pushed the vial into his front pocket of his jeans before stepping closer to her, “I don’t wish to negotiate our time together. Years ago, when I had coerced you to spend your time with me, it had given you a small glimpse of the better parts of myself but, yet, I’d be a fool not to notice the burden you had felt to be there in those moments.”

Klaus takes a cautious step forward, analyzing if she would shy away from him or not. When she stayed still, he gently placed his hands on the sides of her shoulders, the heat from his palms radiating like beacons through her clothing and into her skin.

“Caroline, I don’t wish for you to feel burdened or obligated, by my actions, to spend time with me. It is your choice from now on, and it always will be.”

Her heart lurched in her ribcage and a flutter began in her stomach. His smooth voice, the eloquently and thoughtfully spoken words hitting her hard. Caroline’s thoughts swirled for a moment. Those two sentences that he had just spoken were not just talking about her feelings burdened to spend time with him, no. There was an undertone that she had caught. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to go to him, to be with him. In all honesty, it’s quite the sentiment. It shows her how much he has changed or, rather, bettered himself. This also tells her that he had been thinking a lot about their past and the wrong turns that he had taken to have an opportunity to win her over.

And then, she remembers that he’s still waiting for her response. His eyes had begun to shift, analyzing her’s carefully and taking in the information that they bore.

She gives him a reassuring smile. “I don’t feel obligated or burdened to spend time with you. Not anymore.”

His head tilts in that impossibly cute way that it does and smirks.

A pair of footsteps interrupt them, echoing through the hallway. Klaus lifts his head and looks over her shoulder towards the two french doors that had just opened. Caroline pulls away from Klaus’ warm hands and turns to see who had entered.

“Joshua.” He greets a dark haired vampire that physically looks like he’s in his mid-twenties.

“Well, I’m here. A little if-y about this whole ‘proposition’ thing though.”

Klaus smiles as if he knew something the other two vampires didn’t. “Yes, about that.” He begins, producing the vial of his blood from his jeans pocket. “Take this, carefully would you, to a small town in Virginia.”

Josh furrows his eyebrows in suspicion, looking at the vial of blood like it was poisonous. “Why would I do that for you? Can’t you have one of your lackeys do it for you?”

“Well, young Joshua,” Klaus begins as he takes a few steps closer towards the young vampire, “under these circumstances, it is precedent that this gets delivered in an expeditious manner, thus is the reason I present you with a proposal.”

Caroline watches as Klaus takes another step closer to Josh, almost invading his personal space as he speaks. “Do this for me, and I will not only make an effort to look past your misdoings towards my family, but as well, that of your friend, Davina Claire.”

Klaus’ proposition clearly had struck a chord with Joshua, making him swallow in nervousness. Caroline could see how the boy’s mind was churning in thought, considering certain possibilities. After a few, long, seconds, Josh plucks the vial from Klaus’ fingers. The Original doesn’t make an effort to contain his satisfied smirk as Joshua looks at him with a hint of caution. “Fine.” Josh utters.

“Brilliant. I’ll contact you with the necessary information.”

Joshua sighs and takes his leave.

Once the vampire is gone, Klaus turns to Caroline, swiping his tongue over his lips with a smirk screaming how satisfied he was in getting his way. His eyes did that little thing that they always did when he’d look at her; his eyes starting at her feet and then moving up her whole frame, taking in very detail as if it’s the last time he’d be able to do so. When his eyes connected with her’s, his blue orbs seemed to sparkle. A small shiver went down her spine at the intensity of his gaze.

“You didn’t have to do that. I could’ve just taken it back myself.”

His eyebrow arches. “Well, I’ve already set up for a plane to take off from Louis Armstrong International in a half hour. Your friends should have the cure in no later than four hours.”

Caroline raised an eyebrow, knowing there was something he was not telling her. Klaus looks away from her almost bashfully and then returns his gaze towards her. “I, as well, was hoping you’d like to take one of our rooms.”

She’s a little confused at first, not understanding what he had meant by ‘taking a room’. “I’m sure you’ve had quite a journey here. A flight from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and then a longer drive to New Orleans. I can only assume you’re exhausted and it’d be terribly unmannerly of me to not offer you hospitality.” He explains, tilting his head. “Perhaps, it’d give you time to recuperate and maybe… take in a few sights in the morning.”

His tone is hopeful, filled with possibility. She’d be lying to say that his behavior and words haven’t been a little tempting. Everything from the last few minutes has only shown her that Klaus is the same man that he’s always been. She wasn’t really expecting different, but deep down she had an idea that maybe he’d grown up a bit. This, right here, proves that he has. The man before would have threatened Josh instead of negotiating and he would have not had given up his blood so easily without a fuss. Would it really be such a bad thing to stay the night, in a different room than him? It’s not as if she’d be sleeping with him. Plus, it’d be for only one night.

“I’m not sure.” She trails off, still debating the decision in her head.

“I’ll be sure to make it worth your while.” He states with a grin, knowing gleam in his eyes.

Caroline laughs, the air in the room now becoming a little lighter. “I’m sure you would.”

He raises his eyebrows for a moment, silently asking her for an answer. She bites her bottom lip timidly. “One night wouldn’t hurt.” She states and a wide smirk grows on his lips, showing his thorough satisfaction.

“Well, then. Shall I show you to a room?”

She nods, not finding the right words to say in that moment. He immediately begins to walk towards the french doors that they had entered in and opens them wide for her to pass through. It didn’t take long for them to bound up the stairs to the second story and then travel down a long corridor where a series of doors were on each side. Klaus, then, opened a mahogany door, revealing a gorgeously decorated room with a queen bed, antique dresser, small desk with a chair, and a door that lead to an adjacent bathroom. He’d been thorough in explaining the certain accommodations of her room and how his room is only a few doors down. After, he had left her to look around to gather her some clothing. When he’d come back, he’d placed a pile of clothes on the end of the bed.

“I’ve procured most of these from Hayley. I’d doubt she’d mind much and I assumed you’d be closer to size with her rather than Rebekah. And my sister has a nasty habit of killing whoever touches her belongings.” Klaus states as he turns towards her.

She smiles at him. Her thoughts going past the topic of clothing. “How’d you know I was in The Bahamas?”

“I’ve kept tabs.” He mutters a little playfully, knowing that Caroline wouldn’t approve. She gives him an equally playful look and then rolls her eyes.

“Of course, you have.”

Klaus chuckles as she goes to sit down on the end of the bed. He does as well, making sure to keep a foot’s distance away from her to make sure she stays comfortable and not overwhelmed by his presence. “Tell me, now that you’ve begun to stray from that desperately small town, how is it? Exploring the unknown?”

Caroline hesitates for a moment, thinking about her experiences in the past decade and a half of exploring. They’d mostly been pleasant but nothing extraordinary. Yes, she’d been extremely impressed by the culture, architecture and environment, but it wasn’t as exciting as she had ever hoped or imagined. Although, she imagines that’s because she didn’t have anyone to explore it with. In the beginning she had thought Stefan may have joined her, but he’d been too swept up with a few problems in Mystic Falls and trying to make his brother into a ‘better man’. Like that would ever happen unless it was by Damon’s own incentive. Elena and Bonnie were too wrapped up in college and in their own love lives as it was, so that was a clear ‘no’. So, that just left herself. After her mother died, she’d needed a break and took the opportunity to branch off a little. In the long run, it has paid off. She’d met a few people here and there, as well as giving her a new perspective of the world.

“It was kind of a quick decision. At first, I wanted to stay in the States and just London but the rest of Western Europe was too tempting to pass up.” She states and Klaus seems pleasantly pleased. “But, I kinda wanted to go somewhere hot, so I ended up in The Bahamas.”

“I imagine you enjoyed it there?”

She nods.

“And you?”

Klaus tilts his head in interest to her question. “What of me?” He asks, genuinely satisfied that she was interested in how his life had been going.

“Well, I was a little surprised that you were still in New Orleans. I expected you to move on. I didn’t suspect you as a person that stays in one place for long.”

He smirks. She is, generally, correct. “I’d quite a bit of business to take care of here that took a little longer than I had anticipated and raising a child was one of the things I was most definitely not expecting.”

“I’m sure changing diapers didn’t fit so well into your plans for world domination, huh?” She asks teasingly, giving him a radiant smile.

Klaus chuckles, amused and glad that her penchant for over-exaggeration hasn’t changed. He’d always enjoyed the innocence within her and the light she projected off of herself and onto others.

“You’d be correct.”

He smirked and they’d fallen into a silence. Caroline suddenly felt heated under his gaze, the intensity of it not lessening but a gracefulness communicating through those beautiful, blue orbs.

In all reality, he hadn't changed that much. Of course, she can see that he’d become less prone to using violence as a first resort, but the way he regarded her was the same. He still looked at her with that look in his eyes that just screamed that he knew exactly what she was thinking. In the beginning, it was a little scary, she’ll admit, that he knew more about her than he let on. Although, after all this time, she’s come to realize that it’s not necessarily the worst thing.

He understood her. But, it wasn’t just a one-way street. She knew him quite well, too. A decade ago, she would have said that she knew exactly the man he was, a monster. She’d pegged him for a man that had no heart. How wrong she was. After some time, she’s noticed that all the horrible things that he had done were because he cared. He’d always been pinned as the enemy, although sometimes he genuinely did something bad to get the advantage, but that wasn’t strictly true. Klaus was an extremely complicated man. He has many sides of him and has an extremely dark past that comes with them. His father brutally abused him, his mother locked half of himself off for spite, his siblings cast him off for trying to protect them. In fact, she’d condemned him and slung harsh words at him just because she didn’t truly understand his real intentions behind his actions.

Now, she realizes him for the man that he was. He was an abused son, an abandoned brother, a misunderstood friend, a passionate artist, a good father.

“Well, I’ll leave you to settle and call your friends. I’d rather not have them thinking I’d taken you against your will and have to deal with them knocking down my door. I’ve just gotten it re-painted.”

His tone is light-hearted and filled with playfulness. Caroline smiles again as he stands from the bed, walking towards the door.

“Goodnight.”

He pauses at the door and looks over his shoulder with a smirk.

“Goodnight, love.”

#klaus x caroline #klaus #klaroline drabbles #klaroline #drabble #the originals #the vampire diaries #love

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another-mexico-oc · 4 years

Text

💖 What your favorite Mexico´s ship/OTP says about YOU ...

Spanish version —> AQUÍ

Hello everyone! The month of love is finally over, but before that, inspired by the “What your Favorite Hetalia ship says about you” and related; and since Mexico is one of the most shipped countries (at least by the Hetalia and Countryhumans latin fandom), I decided to make this in collaboration with my cousin. If you are not familiar with this, basically it is a recopilation of facts some people share when they ship Mexico with another country.

WARNINGS AND NOTES BEFORE WE START:

- This post is for both, Hetalia and Countryhumans fans. I clarify that in this blog we don´t discuss which one is better than the other, we enjoy the healthy part and avoid the toxic part.

- This is just for fun, and IT SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Think of it as a horoscope, you can share some of the facts, maybe not. The main purpose is to have some fun.

- We are aware that not all the ships will be here, or that not all of them will have the same extension. We tried to gather all we could.

- This is an extra warning for the English translation: This post may contain a lot of mexican and latin american modern references. Also, the best known historical periods are going to be mentioned, so if you are not familiar with the history of Mexico, we invite you to watch this video, and to consult other articles and media.

Without further due, let´s begin:

FIRST OF ALL, THIS IS ONE OF THE POSSIBLE REASONS YOU SHIP MEXICO WITH ONE, IF NOT, MORE COUNTRIES:

- You are mexican, I don´t have a doubt. You have a Mexico OC and you make fanarts and write fanfics about him/her with your favorite character.

- You are latino, and you came from the Latin Hetalia fandom, or you are from the latin fandom of Countryhumans (obviously, Miss Sherlock Holmes).

- You are neither mexican or latino, but still you like Mexico.

- If you are from Hetalia, you are still waiting the day Himaruya publish the official design of Mexico, so he/she can interact with your favorite character.

OKAY, NOW LET´S GO WITH THE SHIPS:

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇸 USAMEX (USA X Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Favorite fanfic genre: Angst.

- Your guilty pleasures are the toxic love, the impossible love or the unrequited love. Or perhaps you like stories about people who fall in love with their chilhood friend. Or you like the phrase “From hate to love...”

- If you are from Hetalia, (also applies to Countryhumans) probably you also like FrUK (France x UK) or SpUK (Spain x UK). Or you simply don´t support USUK (USA x UK).

- If you are mexican, probably you are from the North, and you love the North and South Mexico OC´s. (And obviously, you ship North Mexico with USA).

- If you are mexican, you probably have visited the United States or your have relatives living there. Going further, you are chicano.

- You love the states personifications of both countries, and you are fascinated by the idea that Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California are the USA and Mexico kids.

- If you are from Hetalia, you like cowboy America, and you also like Mexico dressed as a revolutionary or adelita.

IF YOU LIKE 🇷🇺 RUSMEX (Russia x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You hate USAMex and surely you don´t like United States if you are mexican.

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- Favorite word: Tripaloski.

- You like couples with a lot of height difference. Lil Mex is the most adorable thing in the world.

- If you are a Countryhumans fan, probably you also ship Perú with USA.

- You like love triangles stories. (Cough… cough… USA x Mexico x Russia)

- You have seen Youtube videos of “Rusos Reaccionan a…” (Russians react to), and of mexicans in the Russia 2018 FIFA.

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇦 CANMEX (Canada x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like fluffy ships.

- You think Canada is a better suitor than the toxic USA and the distant and cold Russia. (Or if you are from Hetalia, you think Russia is too mad and unstable for Mexico)

- If you are mexican, you have visited Canada, you want to work or study there, or you have relatives living in Canadá.

- If you´re from Hetalia, it is likely that you don´t like CuCan (Cuba x Canada).

- Also, if you´re from Hetalia, you got excited when in the anime and the manga, Kumajiro mentioned Mexico, and then you got mad because he/she was never showed up!

- If you´re mexican, you were into the memes of Peña Nieto and Justin Trudeau.

- Like Russia case, you adore the love triangles, but in this case you like stories about brothers who have a crush on the same person.

IF YOU LIKE 🇪🇸 SPAMEX (Spain x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like sugar daddies. (Daddy Spain 😏)

- Your guilty pleasure are stories about possesive couples and couples with secret lovers. (Okay, that´s not healthy...)

- If you´re from the Hetalia fandom, you do not like SpaMano (Spain x Romano), and if you are mexican, you will never accept (or you ignored) that canonically, Romano received better treatment than the rest of Spain colonies.

- If you are mexican, you like when Mexico (or New Spain) is represented as the spoiled kid, as daddy´s little princess, and as the best colony of Spain. (Sorry, the other Spain former colonies.)

- Your favorite Mexico periods are the Conquest, the New Spain colonial era and the Independence.

- Probably you not only ship Mexico with Spain. Actually for some reason you like Mexico cheating Spain with another country, either England, France, a latin country and, why not? with the United States.

IF YOU LIKE 🇫🇷 FRAMEX (France x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like to live the expensive life: Eating in gourmet restaurants, buying brand clothes, expensive trips with a five-star hotel stay. Or if you had money, you would love to live the expensive life.

- You like fashion and architecture.

- Favorite Mexico period: The Porfiriato. If you´re mexican, you think that outside of the bad things, Porfirio Díaz made great contributions to the country, and his remains should return to Mexico.

- If you are mexican, you live in the capital, or/and you love to visit Mexico City downtown.

- You like stories about characters who made the casanova to fall in love with them, or stories about the stalker gaining his crush´ heart. (Creepy...)

- If you like male Mexico, you like him to be a flirt and gallant. If you like female Mexico, you like her to be very femenine and dressing pretty outfits.

IF YOU LIKE 🇬🇧UKMEX (England x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are from Hetalia, obviously you like tsundere characters.

- You are fan of Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Queen, the Beatles, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, or any other english celebrity.

- You´re a big fan of gentlemen like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice or Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. In fact, you have readed a lot of books from that period and from that genre.

- You like black humor, wordplay and double entendre phrases.

- You hate Spain and you think England would have been a better sugar daddy. (Why would you think that?)

- You think England would have been a better colonizer than Spain (Why would you think that?)

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like pirate England.

IF YOU LIKE 🇩🇪 GERMEX (Germany x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you´re from Hetalia you think Italy doesn´t deserve Germany. In other words: No GerIta.

- You like dogs, and you want to adopt Paco from Countryhumans.

- Favorite historical period: WWI and WWII.

- You are one of those who think the Zimmerman Telegram was a love confession letter from Germany to Mexico.

- You think England and United States are the worst for intervening on your OTP.

- You like stories Romeo and Juliet´ type: Two people who are from opposite groups who fell in love with each other.

- Also if you´re from Hetalia, besides you like the Doitsu, you like his BDSM side. (Fifty Shades of Germany, coming soon to your nearby bookstore)

IF YOU LIKE 🇦🇹 AUSMEX (Austria x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are mexican, you think Maximilian I of Mexico would have been better governor than Benito Juárez.

- If you´re mexican, you think Mexico should have been an empire since it´s independence.

- You like stories about arranged marriages, or stories about a poor character who marries a rich one, like in telenovelas!

- If you are from Hetalia, probably you prefer PruHun (Prussia x Hungary).

IF YOU LIKE 🇮🇹 ITAMEX (Italy x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Congratulations! You are 1000% unique and different. Oh, and you are alone in your fandom too. Barely there´s someone who shares your ship.

IF YOU LIKE 🇯🇵NIMEX (Japan x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You´re mexican and you are 100% otaku.

- You are tired of Mexico being shipped just with europeans, latinos and north americans. Asians also deserve time y admiration.

- You love cats. (You may be also in the furry fandom)

- If some of the previously mentioned ships have this feature, with this one you confirm that you like complete opposite couples.

- You love long distance relationships.

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like Japan quiet, shy, inocente tiene la mirada… 🎵 🎵 🎵Le tomo la mano, y siente algo extraño … 🎵(Okay, i´ll stop singing)

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇳 CHUMEX (China x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You don´t like neither USAMex or RusMex.

- Or maybe you like the Rusia x México x China love triangle. You can add USA, and now you have some kind of love square.

- You have seen the Chumel Torres on HBO videos, specially those that are titled: “Mexicanos al Grito de Trump” and “Latinos Enemigos”.

- You like the apps Wish and Tik Tok.

- Unlike those who ship FraMex, you prefer to save money by buying good, pretty and cheap things. You have bought in Miniso and in other Chinese low-cost variety stores.

- You like couples with a lot of age difference (If you are an Hetalia fan, you know what I mean). In other words: 🎵A mí me gustan mayores, de esos que se llaman señores … 🎵

- You prefer Huawei rather than Iphone.

IF YOU LIKE 🇰🇷 South Korea x Mexico 🇲🇽

- It is more likely that you came from Hetalia than Countryhumans, and you think Korea needs more recognition alongside China and Japan, even more when this character was censored from the anime.

- If you´re mexican, your ship started when: “Hermano coreano, ya eres mexicano”. (Korean bro, you are already mexican)

- You like K-Pop.

- You have seen videos of El Coreano and Coreano Vlogs on Youtube.

IF YOU LIKE 🇧🇷 BRAMEX (Brazil x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇦🇷 ARGMEX (Argentina x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇨🇱 CHIMEX (Chile x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇵🇪 MEXRU (Mexico x Peru) 🇲🇽, or ANY OTHER LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY X MEXICO.

- IN GENERAL:

- If you are from Hetalia, obviously you are from the Latin Hetalia fandom. If you are from Countryhumans, obviously you are mexican and/or latino.

- Your favorite characters are without doubt the latinos, and you prefer that all stays in family. In fact, you don´t like to ship Mexico with first world countries, or you use these last ones to create love triangles, love squares, or any other love geometric figure.

- You like Mexico being the dom of the relationship.

- BRAMEX: If you are from Countryhumans, you are most likely to be a fan of @torakashu. You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Argentina with Chile.

- ARGMEX: You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Brazil with Uruguay.

- CHIMEX: You live with roomies. You love tsundere characters like those who ship UKMex, but maybe not too tsunderes. And people who don´t like your ship, you smack´em with your guitar! ( 😁)

- MEXRU: If the people who ship RusMex like lil adorable Mexico, you think that Peru (who is even more short sized) is the most mega super 1000% kawaii thing in the universe. Probably you also like the Rusia x Peru x USA x Mexico love square.

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇦 UKRAMEX (Ukraine x Mexico) 🇲🇽 or 🇧🇾 BELMEX (Belarus x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- You think that RusMex is very overrated, and similar to the CanMex case, you think Russia siblings are better suitors.

- You don´t care to ship countries which do not share a lot of history and interactions compared to others.

- If you are from Hetalia you are a Belarus fan,and you ignore or hate her canon personality in the manga and the anime.

IF YOU LIKE 🇳🇱 NEDMEX (Netherlands x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are from the Hetalia fandom, without doubt.

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- You like mysterious guys and with aura of "bad boy" but romantic on the inside.

- Eh… you like tulipans???

IF YOU LIKE 🇵🇭Phillippines x Mexico 🇲🇽

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- More probably you are from Hetalia than Countryhumans.

- You like dom Mexico.

- Is probably that you ship, both Phillippines and Mexico, with other countries, since this two have their own harems.

IF YOU LIKE PRUMEX (Prussia x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇵🇹 Portugal x Mexico 🇲🇽, Scotland x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are an Hetalia fan.

- PRUMEX: You don´t like GerMex.

- PORTUGAL X MEXICO: You don´t like SpaMex.

- SCOTLAND X MEXICO: You don´t like neither UKMex or USAMex.

- IN GENERAL: You don´t like popular Mexico ships, and you prefer to ship Mexico with the siblings of the popular countries.

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽Mexico x Any other country which is not on this post 🌎

You like random ships, you are unique and different, or you simply are a mexican who has visited or likes certain country.

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽 Mexico x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are a 100% patriot mexican.

- You like the North, South, and even Central, Mexico OC´s.

IF YOU LIKE 🌎THE MEXICO HAREM (Everyone x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are mexican without doubt.

- You like submissive Mexico, or you like the flirty Mexico OC´s.

- You think Mexico is the best country in the world and everybody should know it.

- You get excited everytime a foreigner speaks well about your country. You often read the news about Mexico and it´s negotiations and agreements with the other countries.

- You have thoroughly investigated the history of Mexico and its relations with other countries. You've watched the YouTube channels of MainWatchers, Yolo Camotes and The Nopal Times Tops

- You are studying or you are interested on the next careers: International relations, History and Languages.

- If you´re a fan of Hetalia, you like all the male characters and you fantasize about them.

————

We finish! If you like it and you had fun with it, I invite you to reblog it with this emoji: 💟. We also invite you to reblog it so you can share it with more fans :)

I still have a lot of work and it seems it will get more hard, but I´ll do my best to keep active. Without anything more to say, see you all on the next post.

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warsofasoiaf · 4 years

Note

Hello! Following the questions regarding the clear inefficiency and corruption of dictatorships, and in particular the 20th century ones, Mussolini's fascism comes to mind as probably the worst among the Axis powers in this regard. Or at least that's my view as an antifascist Italian and history enthusiast. I'd be interested to know if you agree (if you wish and have time), since I really appreciate your meta analisys. Thanks!

If you’re looking for a quick zinger, you really can’t go wrong with the classics. Despite the “at least the trains run on time” slogan, the trains in fascist Italy were often off their timetables and notoriously late.

Fascist Italy had a terrible track record during the Second World War. While the “Italians don’t fight” stereotype. Like I discussed with @stefansasse in our podcast episode about the ineffectiveness of fascist military and governmental organization (albeit we focused on Nazi Germany), there was a grand emphasis in style over substance and little in the way of genuine innovative techniques, which was a real shame because the Italian soldiers did at times exhibit considerable ingenuity with motorized and mechanized warfare during their time in Ethiopia and Spain. Individual unit action did showcase phenomenal cases of courage, German soldiers that had worked with the Italians had even said “the soldiers are good, their officers worthless.” So the major European country with the most experience of fighting a modern, motorized war was among its least prepared and least innovative particularly at the officer corps. This isn’t to defend fascism and anyone who takes that as such is willfully wrong, I just find it necessary at times for those who dismiss the Italian people as people that can’t fight.

However, the army apparatus was, following the pattern of dictatorial administration, clumsily run. Caste systems that had dogged the Italian military in the First World War (the common grunt or peasant conscript primarily saw the officer corps as out-of-touch men from Piedmont or Savoy) continued into Fascist Italy, with conduct between officers, NCO’s, and enlisted men not conducive to a unified fighting force. Dialect problems plagued the army and administration, which was deeply at odds with Mussolini’s fascist mission statement of a single strong leader that would eliminate the muddling and arguing that left liberal democracies incapable of facing the challenges of modernity. Similarly, his mantra of a strongman that could effectively organize the apparatus of state to prepare to fight a truly modern war sort of fell apart when Italy was unready to enter war, having to declare war on the United Kingdom and France well after the battle was already lost for the latter in the hopes of getting the spoils.

And what was ready wasn’t great. Their tanks had thin armor and puny engines. Their artillery was ponderously slow with poor range. The anti-tank guns had little penetrative power. But perhaps the worst (because I’m a logistics guy) is the absence of field kitchens, with poor Italian soldiers having to ask allied German soldiers for food. That’s an unbelievably terrible record of fascist inefficiency, where an incompetent dictator has oversights that completely cripple its operations. Their invasion of Greece was a debacle, they needed a full 20 divisions of Alpini if they wanted to succeed, they had six.

Worst is often a subjective judgment, but I think there’s enough objective measurements to say that Fascist Italy was one of the worst combatants in the Second World War and a lot of that stems from the incompetence and inefficiency of the fascist regime.

Thanks for the question, Anti-Fascist Italian and History Enthusiast Anon. I hope you have a good one.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#history #italy #world war 2 #ww2 #wwii #world war ii

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eveiswriting · 4 years

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I have suffered with anxiety and depression since I was 11 years old and ever since then, I've noticed that some days are better than others in terms of how much I can cope. Some days I feel as though I can achieve anything. But a lot of the time (most of the time), I am busy doubting myself, worrying about other things and feeling generally drained from life itself. So I thought I'd give you some tips I use to help myself study despite suffering with anxiety and depression. I'd also like to add a little disclaimer that I am by no means saying this will cure your anxiety or depression nor make your life perfect. I know the seriousness of dealing with mental illness and my aim here is to share tips that I myself find useful.

1. Change up your routine

I notice I become really depressed when I repeat the same thing constantly and never change things up. By changing the method you study, you are challenging yourself in different ways but also making sure your brain is stimulated. So, one day you can try flashcards but another day you could watch a video and take notes or make a mindmap or make a PowerPoint and record yourself talking over it as if you are a teacher teaching that content to your class. There are numerous ways to change the way you learn.

2. Reward yourself

For some people, this may mean food or watching tv or even playing with your cat. Whatever makes you smile or feel better or slightly more relaxed, make sure to do it. You should not punish yourself for not doing 20 hours of work a day. Whether you have done 1 hour of work or 8 hours, you need time to breathe and relax away from the pressures of study.

3. Wear comfy clothes

If I visit a library or cafe, my anxiety is so high by being surrounded by people that I am already feeling out of my comfort zone. So, by wearing clothes you feel comfortable and confident in, you are more likely to adapt to the place you are in and be able to relax there. Also, studying is not much fun if you're feeling uncomfortable so choose wisely!

4. Listen to your favourite music

There is something strangely calming for me when I hear one of my favourite songs come on whilst I study or am in public, such as in a library trying to study. I get majorly anxious even if I go somewhere like a library or somewhere where other people study, so being able to listen to songs I love and that help calm me or just make me feel happy is a massive plus. If music with lyrics or music in general distracts you, I recommend either listening to white noise on youtube or asmr study live streams where they use rain sounds.

5. Adapt on down days

When you deal with mental illness, you will know there are some days when it is simply impossible to get your brain to work. You might look at your to-do list and feel a sense of dread knowing that you will never be able to get all of that done, especially if you are feeling particularly depressed or anxious on a certain day. I think the key thing that has helped me is to adapt and recognise that some days you feel like absolute crap and nothing is working. Instead of trying to force yourself to study for hours on end, try just doing something for 10 mins or 20 mins or perhaps at max 30 mins. You might think 10 mins is nothing but if you did that 3 times then you will have done 30 mins of work already. It doesn't matter how much you do, it's HOW you study. You could spend 10 hours being completely unproductive. Time does not always constitute productivity.

6. your study space

I am slightly a hypocrite with this once since I really need to make my study space and desk better for studying. With this point, I mean that you should add little decorations or things you know will make you happy around your study space. Some people might want to add fairy lights or postcards to the wall, whilst others may prefer to put a picture of their favourite singer or group. You can really be creative with this but also don't overcomplicate it since you need enough space on your desk or study area to actually be able to study and have your books out!

7. talk to others about your worries and feelings or write them down

The anxiety and the stress that school often gives us can be made worse when someone already struggles with anxiety and depression to begin with. I'm admittedly not one for talking about my feelings, I would probably say I have about 1 or 2 people close to me I could be honest with when I am feeling down, but that doesn't mean it is easy. If you are seriously struggling to the point you feel you can't take much more, please please talk to someone and do not bottle it up. Whether you call a helpline just so you can vent to someone, whether you talk to your best friend or an online friend or your brother, just please do it and don't let yourself fall into the habit of shutting everyone out. It is extremely hard to focus on studying if you are trying to fight against yourself and the negative emotions you are feeling every day on top of that.

links if you are in crisis:

a list of international suicide hotlines:

a crisis hotline (they work in the U.S., UK, Canada, South Africa, Ireland)

this is another website which gives the hotline numbers for the U.S, Canada, the UK & Republic of Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Mexico, Japan, Brazil & India

more hotlines for crisis & suicide prevention which ontop of the above also include Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan

These tips may be short and simple but for those struggling with mental illness, even these small changes can be hard at first. Please take your time and look after yourself. Your health should not suffer just so you can achieve an A* grade. Studying can even be fun, effective and interesting if done correctly. But if you overwork yourself or deny yourself a break, you're actually going to end up less productive.

So, my overall advice is: study smart and try to monitor how you are feeling and when things are getting too much. There may be times when you hit a very low point and maybe even question if you have the ability to carry on, but I promise you that you have that potential to achieve the things you want.

#studyblr #100 days of productivity #study tips #study motivation #study #studying #self care #studyspo #study space #mental health

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wewererogue · 4 years

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A lot of the knives you post are super cool looking but how usable are they? Would a rogue have a filigreed dagger in real life? What blade does your Iconic character use? Also I would love to see some ranged weapons as not all rogues like to be close to their target

Great questions, anon! This deserves a loooong answer.

Are the fancy daggers usable? Generally yes. Most of them are status symbols of some sort, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get the job done. Perhaps a handful of them are ceremonial or ornamental. Rule of thumb: if the blade is sharp and serviceable, and the hilt isn’t a weird novelty shape which can’t be reasonably gripped, they are very much usable, as tools and/or weapons.

Miniature Ottoman gem-set dagger (11.7 cm. long), 19th c., an object of art.

Spanish parrying dagger, c. 1675, real fancy, 100% usable.

Would a rogue carry such a fancy dagger in real life? It depends on what counts as a rogue in real life. If you’re picturing low-class petty thieves scraping a living in the urban underworld, they probably wouldn’t walk around with gem-encrusted daggers. Poor people in general wouldn’t have access to expensive items like that, and if they somehow did (say, illegally), they would rather sell them than carry them and be compromised.

The slums - Assassin’s Creed Syndicate concept by Hugo Pazzuoli

Most of them wouldn’t have a dagger at all. (The violence of the criminal underworld has been systematically exaggerated in the legal records and the press/literature.) They would carry a small knife as a tool, much like everyone carried a knife, and its quality would depend on their income. They might use it to cut a purse, though most pickpockets relied solely on their deft fingers and misdirection. And those who weren’t above violence would generally carry a knife or a sword (laws/social norms permitting) or a big stick.

So couldn’t a blade be a status symbol for low-status people? Oh, it most definitely could. But what type of blade depended on the situation. Any Spaniard would prize his or her fancy navaja - except that “fancy” in this instance doesn’t mean covered in gems and gold, just well-made and pretty, and maybe with an inscription that drips with bravado. (“Valour!” “I am from Seville!” “Don’t open me without a reason and don’t close me without honour.”)

Navaja, Albacete, Spain, 1883

Most Ottomans couldn’t afford a silver yatagan (i.e. with an intricately engraved silver scabbard and hilt), but a well-made sturdy knife with a bone handle and a few decorative touches was widely accessible. In many cultures, gifting a good knife to a teenager (usually, but not always, a boy) is a rite-of-passage custom that goes way back, and isn’t limited to rich kids.

Turkish yatagan, silver hilt and scabbard, 18th c.

Bosnian bichaq, bone hilt, Ottoman period

In Venice and Florence, bravos were considered lowlife thugs, but that didn’t stop them from carrying intricate daggers and stilettos. Indeed, stilettos got a bad rap as “dishonourable” weapons because bravos were using them to stab people. (In contrast, nobles and soldiers stabbed people with rapiers, swords, and impunity.)

Stiletto, Italy, 17th c.

The baselard became so popular in England at some point that it was considered a standard accessory for urban dwellers, regardless of class. So in contexts like this, a low-class rogue could easily carry a special, beautiful knife or dagger - though not obscenely expensive.

Baselard

That said, rogues aren’t exclusively low-class or urban. Hotheaded gentlemen from England were one bankruptcy away from becoming highwaymen, and then they’d carry whatever swords and daggers (and guns) were available to their class. Rowdy European noblemen who kept stabbing each other in duels might be considered swashbucklers. Courtiers and courtesans could easily be portrayed as Charisma-based rogues, and some of them weren’t above backstabbing/poisoning the competition. Rural brigands and bandits came from all walks of life, from rich and powerful families/clans to dirt-poor farmers and shepherds, and they prized their fancy knives either way.

The yatagan of the notorious Greek bandit Fotis Yagoulas

So in conclusion, the fancy knives and daggers I post aren’t exactly representative of Rogue weapons… but they’re not wildly irrelevant either. The most expensive ones are courtly daggers or presentation daggers, and it’d take some creativity to place them in the hands of a Rogue. And the majority of Rogues remains sadly under-represented, for practical reasons: low-class items don’t often find their way in museums and collections, and unlike gold and silver, a simple wooden handle will decompose over time. That said, lots of roguish folks have carried blades that are similar, at least in some regard, to these fancy knives. We just have to figure out the right context.

Plus, I’m super interested in the ethnographic aspect of this - if that’s the correct term. (Is it? Help, native speakers!) I mean, I like imagining Rogues, and I’d like to help others imagine Rogues, from all kinds of different places and cultures. Rogues and Fighters are universal classes out of the box. Nothing compels us to stick to imagery and inspiration from a small corner of the earth for anything, but for Rogues in particular it would be a crying shame. The Chinese have a whole epic for their bandits. The Mediterranean, all three continents around it, has been swarming with thieves for thousands of years, and yes, I’m proud of that. Brazil had cangaceiros, Ireland had rapparees, the Balkans had hajduks, Japan really had ninjas (though not in what’s usually recognisable as ninja attire). Arabic literature was the first to treat rogues as (anti-)heroes centuries before the idea appeared in Spain and then flourished in England. And pretty much everyone under the sun has a folk hero / Robin Hood figure who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

Basically, the main point of posting knives and daggers from all over the globe is that roguish inspiration can indeed come from all over the globe, and I think that’s awesome.

On my iconic: Naddiyah’s city was heavily inspired by Ottoman era Algiers, and her dagger of choice comes from a little bit to the west: the Moroccan koummya.

As for what I post here, oh, this is the archive. I’m trying to collect posts from my old blog, which was sadly deleted. If it occasionally floods your dashboard with a specific topic, it’s because I’m trying to recreate a whole tag or something. Sorry! The new Rogue blog is @theoutcastrogue. You’re right though, I have neglected ranged weapons. What do you prefer? Bows? Crossbows? I’m taking orders*. :D

super fancy steel crossbow, France, c. 1720

*without specifying delivery time because gah, this is a BUSY time

#long post #correspondence #tools of the trade #theory #trs

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