#my brain has no filter at this point anymore im just pouring out thoughts

[rein-ette]

hey hey hey

tell me places in time and space you can picture either arthur and/or francis in that interest you both for their history, politics or general ~aesthetics~

Time for a (long ass) list:

1. My favourite historical period that I read the most on are the two world wars. I especially love discussing/writing/reading about France in World War I and England in World War II. I just think France was high key poppin off in World War I, but it’s subsequent defeat in 1939 and the stereotype that “the French are useless cowards” has tarnished that bravery. The French army and government certainly made mistakes (as did the British, and the Germans), but they also demonstrated an incredible capacity to learn from those mistakes and adapt. They made a lot of hard choices, often based on very limited information, and of course fought tooth and nail for every inch of land. French history in World War I has informed a lot of how I see Francis the character: underneath that flippant attitude, there is a man who is mature, serious, compassionate, and courageous — a man who knows better than anyone the meaning of sacrifice but is still able to carry through decisions and plans that would break the minds, if not the bodies of most. (War is a terrrible, terrible thing, not just for the soldiers but the generals as well, and there are plenty of historical examples of those who could not withstand the terrible grief and terror of making the wrong choices). For anyone interested I highly recommend Barbara Tuchmann's The Guns of August on the first month of the First World War — I’ve found it exceedingly hard to find good histories of French involvement in English but this is one of them.

2. I like cop!Arthur and Francis. I usually don’t dabble that much in nyotalia, but I happen to also like fem Arthur and Francis as cops too. Two badass women in their 30s, trying to balance an increasingly demanding job with their family issues, staving off the loneliness of constantly trying to make it alone, and battling sexism and their own repressed feelings for each other. Mmmmmm yes I could watch a whole tv series on this. It’s hard historically to find moments where Arthur and Francis are truly, wholeheartedly, on the same side so I need the aus for that. Marianne saving too feisty Alice who thinks she can take on three men barehanded, Alice lecturing Marianne afterwards for doing crazy stunts like you’re supposed to be sane one. Oh, and it has to be enemies to lovers, “you speak French like a country bimbo” to “that’s my girlfriend, you punk.” Guys, that’s the shit.

3. I'm so so weak for the Japanese "young master" trope for Arthur. You know, Black Butler style. Cinched suit vests, breakfast in bed with a side of war correspondence, coaches and horses, sword canes and teacups that cost more three men can make their entire lives. Arthur beating people up without a ripped seam in his suit is 👌. Oh, and he needs to have, like, one of those home laboratories that apparently rich men in the 1800s just had in their homes? Cuz back then taxonomy and synthesizing explosives were just hobbies or something. But of course Arthur grows magical plants and stews dubious aphrodisiacs in his lab and greenhouse too, because that man can never be just anything.

4. Speaking of magic, I've always wondered why there isn't more magic!Arthur fics. Not like, Britannia angel, but serious fae-and-flames magic. Maybe it's cuz people feel it gets in the way of history? For me, I prefer a magic realist approach. I think Arthur's always had magic, and that he can express it in a variety of forms (elemental, potions, spells etc) but that he's especially good at manipulating plant life. If anyone's ever seen Princess Mononoke, especially the scene where the Forest God makes flowers grow on the barrel of a gun when they try to shoot him -- that's the kind of magic that I think comes most natural to Arthur. So yeah, in terms of "time and space", I like thinking about Arthur spending time in the fae courts, hunting supernatural beings in the forest, blasting ships to fiery pieces with a combination of his powers and his obsession with chemistry ("real" magic, you might call it). I also think Francis (and Port, Spain, anyone who's known him long enough) does believe in magic, because even if they can't see the faeries you cannot possibly tell me they haven't been on the receiving end of Arthur's spells. It might be a belief tinged with doubt, but Francis believes in God and democracy and the weather report with a tinge of doubt too, so what the hell.

5. Francis is a doctor. He's graduated medical school (multiple times), and specializes in trauma and cardiovascular surgery. This isn't an au to me, it's just a part of my conception of nation Francis. Nations must take interests in things other than politics (how else would they fill 25 lifetimes?) and military matters, and I cannot imagine a more suitable vocation for Francis. He has a fascination with the beautiful, the complex, the morbid, the ephemeral -- and what is more fleeting and intricate and miraculous than the human body? Practicing medicine also satisfies Francis' innate tendency to philosophize and it offers him moral reward, an opportunity to do good and to serve others with no strings attached. Plus Francis already worships humans and the human body in other ways (art, obviously, idk what you're thinking about) so, yes, this is just the perfect job for him and no one can convince me otherwise. I often think about Francis doing shifts at the hospital in his free time, scrubbed in at the OR, listening to his favourite songs and chatting with the nurses as he prepares to operate. War is a merciless revealer of character, but so too I think is medicine, and there's nothing Francis revels in more than being pushed to his limits.