“Right…” Alfred replied, running his fingers over the carefully inscribed letters once more. It was strange to again receive warning against someone, or at least someone he had thought was on his side at least. That the Seelie could also steal someone away like that… What made the difference between the Courts then? The poem intrigued him, mocked him. How long ago had this been written? He remembered learning German, remembered it from the massive waves of immigrants, from when Gilbert had painstakingly taught him. He didn’t have much opportunity to use it, which was sad, because it was so close to English in many respects. A lot of people thought the Romance languages more beautiful, and they dripped off the tongue like molten honey. German didn’t do that, it was far more deliberate. It didn’t lend itself well to puns either, nor to his or Arthur’s humor. People also thought Germans sounded angry all the time, but Alfred thought that was true over all slow languages when one spoke them quickly. Alfred personally liked the language, though English was substantially better. Still, it beat French. And dude, it was so funny during World War I, when Ludwig had realized that the ‘private’ conversation he was having with his brother wasn’t so private after all. C’mon, what did he expect? Germans were his largest immigrant group, after all. Though, they didn’t retain a lot of their cultural identity, becoming Americanized very quickly, and then German as a language was dropped during the first war… But anyways, he liked German, and honestly felt his haphazard translation didn’t do it justice. “It’s so much more beautiful in the original language though.”
Tch, the poem, come along, Tungolbyre. Adain flapped onto his shoulder, directing him onwards as Alfred quickly scooped everything back into his bag. Come.
And then there was a harsh, striking voice like the peel of a hammer. “Eigentlich sind Sie mit mir.”
Alfred spun, somehow drawing his sword in one smooth motion, as he struggled to understand. That wasn’t German, it was… his eyes fell upon a short, incredibly stout man with a gigantic beard. Oh. Dwarvish. Alfred wondered if German would work. “Hello, we are merely passers through, we wish you and your people no harm.” He said, hoping that this would work.
The dwarf growled something again, and gestured a follow me motion. “No, sorry, just passing through.” Alfred replied, again wondering if he was doing any good at all.
The dwarf hefted an axe threateningly, barked something more, and two more bearded men slipped in from the shadows, and they began advancing, axes held in front of them.
Alfred and Aengus met eyes, and quickly faced back to back as the dwarves surrounded them. Aengus too drew his sword, and suddenly life flared in the chamber as his sword lit up.
“You didn’t tell me you had a magic sword.” Alfred commented, keeping his eyes on the axe-men in front of him, though definitely feeling the heat from the flames behind him.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Aengus replied easily. “I’ve ‘ad a ‘undred years to get one.”
What? That didn’t make sense! Aengus had been around a lot longer, and—
“Focus!” Aengus barked, and Alfred reacted instinctively and brought his sword up to parry an axe, deflecting the absolute strength of the blow with some difficulty. Adain flapped skyward, and grabbed his own dwarf, raking his claws across his face. Alfred gritted his teeth and got back to fighting. His liked his sword and all, but he’d still take a pair of pistols against a dwarf any day.
Aengus was laughing, low and throaty, not caring if he got hit or not as his intangibility allowed the axe to pass right through. From what Alfred could see, the dwarf was getting incredibly frustrated.
The fight was both long and short. Alfred made sure to keep his blood out of this, he really didn’t want anything bad to happen to them, exactly. Alfred wasn’t sure how long it was that it went on, but then suddenly he hooked his hilt underneath the axe blade, hefted, and the axe went flying. He rushed forward, and suddenly the tip of his blade was on the edge of a red beard. “Yield.” Alfred said plainly.
“Nein.” The last dwarf, Adain’s dwarf said from off to the side. Alfred turned, keeping his weapon exactly where it was. The black haired dwarf held Adain’s long, skinny neck between his two palms. “Sie warden.” Alfred stilled. The threat was evident enough. “Fallen lassen dein Schwert.” Alfred scrunched his nose, trying to wade through the unfamiliar language. “Lass los!” He said sharply, and Alfred lowered his sword, allowing the red one free. “Sie können nicht verstehen, ein Wort, das ich sage.” The dwarf commented. “Gib ihm ein Amulett.”
The red one glowered at the black one, but fished a charm on a string from his pocket and offered it to Alfred. Alfred wasn’t sure he should, so he stood there. “Nimm es.” The black one said.
Alright, he wanted Alfred to take it, that was clear enough. “Not until you let my friend go.” Alfred said in German. The dwarf simply raised an eyebrow. “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Tungolbyre, please do not do anything to get me killed. Adain said plaintively in his mind.
Alfred looked at Aengus, who had paused his duel with Greybeard. “Ach, lad,” he murmured. “Looks to be a translation amulet, but ye can never be sure.”
Alright then. His choice. Well, there wasn’t a choice here right now. He couldn’t get Adain killed. In a snap decision, Alfred reached out and snatched the necklace, pulling it over his head.
“Ahh there we are, we can speak plainly now.” Blackbeard said, pleased, though he did not release his grip on Adain. “For trespassers, you fight well and with honor. It will be a shame to see your execution.”
Hi everyone! I would just like to clarify again that this is in no way what I believe about souls and people and stuff, it’s just what happens in verse. Also with the religion stuff: Alfred I feel is a very religious person, and I’ve tried to incorporate that somewhat into this fic a bit. Many authors forget about religion for a lot of countries, and I wanted to explore some of the ramifications of nationhood and a relationship with God, especially since we were talking about souls. Old German translators are ridiculously hard to find, so regular German was used to represent Old German. The two random names in there are Iran and North Korea, respectively. Here’s a question though for you: which do you think is the most and the least human of our three?
Anon 1: Yes, yes he his, but he stays positive, for now at least. Because he’s Alfred and susceptible to all magic, you’ll find out why later. You’ll see. Nice remembering, again, you’ll see. Because Maggie was nice. A little of both I think! XD I always find it annoying that villains always send out low level people first and allow the hero to build up his abilities when they could just get it over with by sending out someone powerful. I wanted to put Crowe and Mab as smart villains so yeah! Oh yes, it is. That was a very… interesting… music video btw.
Anon 2: Thank you! It’s nice to hear. Thanks, we’re just about reaching the ‘answer’ phase of the story, I think. I am debating cutting an entire segment to make it shorter. Do you guys think I should? Dude I would ace a class on fanfiction! Got the CCNR for it? As for mythology, I knew a lot of Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Norse coming in, with some Native American stuff thrown in for good measure, and a lot of Aesop. I’ve also been in love with the Arthurian romances forever, though I have rewritten them completely here. A fantastic place to start is Wikipedia, though they usually give you facts and figures as opposed to tales. A good Celtic mythology book will get you fairly far. The Welsh Triads will be useful, as will the Ulster cycle. You don’t need to go read them, they’re really dry! An intermediate knowledge of the history of Britain would be super useful as well. If you google character names, I tried to keep them true to form. Mythology is so fun because it’s what so much of our culture is based on and referenced to. Be careful about websites that want to sell you stuff though!
Anon 3: Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Star Trek is one of my favorite things ever. So therefore it is one of Alfred’s too… though you can find it on BBC America more than anyplace else nowadays. Thanks, it’s a little like puppeteering actually, because I have to pull all of these strings before I get to a certain reveals and I have to push information (new and old) and plot events at the same time in an interesting manner. And then weave in so much of the other concurrent storylines. There are bunches of little hints in all of these about what is happening elsewhere, that I have to put in without having written it. Also, there has to be a lot of information feeding right now, because Arthur already knows a heck of a lot of this, and thus does not need it explained. So I try to have each segment have a bit of a theme on its own. It’s good to know I’m succeeding a little! You won’t find much about Annwn because he’s an amalgamation of several guys in order to explain some stuff later. I like it when he cheats too (why I took the fill)! I personally like him too much to turn this fill too much darker at the moment, though I’ve mused a lot about an unhappy ending.
Anon 4: But no one caught the POTC! ;) Lol I try, thanks! He’s sometimes a little close to me sometimes. His inner monologues are fun, but the other characters should learn to cut him off quickly before he works himself up. It’s not good for his health! And thanks for the review!
Reviews are so totally awesome guys! They make me write! Wish me luck on my Chem midterm!
omg I love Der Erlkoing and I have the Schubert composition on my itunes and you included the poem in the story and you have Alfred talking about linguistics and Grimm Brothers and I just /swoons.
I've been rereading The Hobbit so I really like the dwarfs, even if all they've done is speak not-German and fight with our heroes, and I'm excited to see what happens next! (Also why do I have a feeling that Alfred losing that letter is going to come back in a big way?)
Super excited about this super fab update and eagerly awaiting the next one!
I don't have much to say (without repeating myself for what seems to be the hundredth time), but this update was just as great as everything else.
Anon 2 here, saying that I'll definitely hit Wikipedia up once I find some down time, and then possibly a bookstore or two.
I was proud of myself because in high school, I took German and my senior year we all had to memorize Der Erlkönig. It's one of my favorite poems, and I just love how you tied in the Grimm Brothers. They I know, and I can definitely see how their stories could've been influenced by this fantastical, terrifying world.
As for cutting a part out of this story, while part of me wants to say yes because we'd get to the fucking answers and I'd stop having to rip my hair out every update, I think it's ultimately up to you, but even more than the answers, I'd love to stay in this universe a little while longer. This story is like the novel you pick up on a whim, and then you're absolutely captivated and you finish too quickly, you didn't let enough sink in because you're too busy trying to answer everything all at once, and in the end you're aching for the experience to last even a fraction of a moment longer because you don't want to let go of all those new emotions yet.
No you can't have an unhappy ending if you do then you'll responsible for the entirety of the midwest being flooded in my unending tears. I'm kidding, obviously, but I honestly probably would cry. Heck, even if it's a happy ending, I might cry anyway, because you've immersed us so well into this.
...Why can't writing research papers be as easy as leaving people comments on fanficiton? Ugh. Good luck on your Chem midterm! Hey, I've got it. I'll go to your school and punch the test in the face, and then you'll have more time to write another update, ja? Obviously this is the smartest plan you've ever heard, don't try and deny it.
LOL was that the first time you'd ever seen Rammstein's Sonne? (And now that you've added German to the Dwarves, it's another reference)
That dream was very upsetting! Mostly because I thought I'd missed an update or something. :P
As to which of them is most or least human? Ha. Aengus is the only one to have ever BEEN a human, so I think that counts. (And I laughed when Alfred pointed out in the middle of the dragon's rant about short lives that neither of them counted) Least is Adain, because he is a dragon and thinks like a nonhuman. America has never truly been human, but he (his soul?) is connected to living humans and embodied to live as a human so he's almost good enough. (I'm not one of those people who thinks Nations are humans with some extra. I tend to think of them as nearly fae themselves, what with the history of nation goddesses and genius locii and such. Hmm, Alfred has more in common with the Oreads and Dryads than any other spirits, perhaps.)
Should you cut? :( I'm selfish enough to want whatever keeps the story going. So many never get finished. But you've introduced so much complexity that I wonder if cutting would be bad for the overall story.
Amazing as usually, Authornon. German! Dwarfs! Language savvy Alfred! Religious Alfred! Historical references! Goethe! The Grimm Brothers! So many things to love about this update! Dreams! Arthur! Oh Arthur! Oh Alfred!
*catches her breath and calms herself*
I'm impressed that you included the religious parts in this fill. Most don't even touch on the possibility of nations being religious at all or believe in god. Well, with the possible exceptions of the Italian brothers and the HRE. Otherwise, nothing.
Disney, Snow White for the Win! But, OMG there are so many references in here. I'm not sure I could list them all, unless I did a re-read. One of my favorite has to be that poem! Alfred's right, if the Grimm brothers had actually ventured there, then that would explain a lot, indeed. Wowee!
All of the things that goes through Alfred's mind from one moment to the next is truly remarkable. It's like my mind, but stuck on random even more often than mine.
I must say this again...Oh Alfred, because I think I would react the same way to a lost first love letter.
I hope you did well on your midterm. I love you Authornon!I'm making lots of sweets and scones tomorrow, and I wish I could give you some. It deserve it!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Crowe 15g/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 12:36 am (UTC)(link)Tch, the poem, come along, Tungolbyre. Adain flapped onto his shoulder, directing him onwards as Alfred quickly scooped everything back into his bag. Come.
And then there was a harsh, striking voice like the peel of a hammer. “Eigentlich sind Sie mit mir.”
Alfred spun, somehow drawing his sword in one smooth motion, as he struggled to understand. That wasn’t German, it was… his eyes fell upon a short, incredibly stout man with a gigantic beard. Oh. Dwarvish. Alfred wondered if German would work. “Hello, we are merely passers through, we wish you and your people no harm.” He said, hoping that this would work.
The dwarf growled something again, and gestured a follow me motion. “No, sorry, just passing through.” Alfred replied, again wondering if he was doing any good at all.
The dwarf hefted an axe threateningly, barked something more, and two more bearded men slipped in from the shadows, and they began advancing, axes held in front of them.
Alfred and Aengus met eyes, and quickly faced back to back as the dwarves surrounded them. Aengus too drew his sword, and suddenly life flared in the chamber as his sword lit up.
“You didn’t tell me you had a magic sword.” Alfred commented, keeping his eyes on the axe-men in front of him, though definitely feeling the heat from the flames behind him.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Aengus replied easily. “I’ve ‘ad a ‘undred years to get one.”
What? That didn’t make sense! Aengus had been around a lot longer, and—
“Focus!” Aengus barked, and Alfred reacted instinctively and brought his sword up to parry an axe, deflecting the absolute strength of the blow with some difficulty. Adain flapped skyward, and grabbed his own dwarf, raking his claws across his face. Alfred gritted his teeth and got back to fighting. His liked his sword and all, but he’d still take a pair of pistols against a dwarf any day.
Aengus was laughing, low and throaty, not caring if he got hit or not as his intangibility allowed the axe to pass right through. From what Alfred could see, the dwarf was getting incredibly frustrated.
The fight was both long and short. Alfred made sure to keep his blood out of this, he really didn’t want anything bad to happen to them, exactly. Alfred wasn’t sure how long it was that it went on, but then suddenly he hooked his hilt underneath the axe blade, hefted, and the axe went flying. He rushed forward, and suddenly the tip of his blade was on the edge of a red beard. “Yield.” Alfred said plainly.
Crowe 15h/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 12:37 am (UTC)(link)The red one glowered at the black one, but fished a charm on a string from his pocket and offered it to Alfred. Alfred wasn’t sure he should, so he stood there. “Nimm es.” The black one said.
Alright, he wanted Alfred to take it, that was clear enough. “Not until you let my friend go.” Alfred said in German. The dwarf simply raised an eyebrow. “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Tungolbyre, please do not do anything to get me killed. Adain said plaintively in his mind.
Alfred looked at Aengus, who had paused his duel with Greybeard. “Ach, lad,” he murmured. “Looks to be a translation amulet, but ye can never be sure.”
Alright then. His choice. Well, there wasn’t a choice here right now. He couldn’t get Adain killed. In a snap decision, Alfred reached out and snatched the necklace, pulling it over his head.
“Ahh there we are, we can speak plainly now.” Blackbeard said, pleased, though he did not release his grip on Adain. “For trespassers, you fight well and with honor. It will be a shame to see your execution.”
Hi everyone! I would just like to clarify again that this is in no way what I believe about souls and people and stuff, it’s just what happens in verse. Also with the religion stuff: Alfred I feel is a very religious person, and I’ve tried to incorporate that somewhat into this fic a bit. Many authors forget about religion for a lot of countries, and I wanted to explore some of the ramifications of nationhood and a relationship with God, especially since we were talking about souls. Old German translators are ridiculously hard to find, so regular German was used to represent Old German. The two random names in there are Iran and North Korea, respectively. Here’s a question though for you: which do you think is the most and the least human of our three?
Anon 1: Yes, yes he his, but he stays positive, for now at least. Because he’s Alfred and susceptible to all magic, you’ll find out why later. You’ll see. Nice remembering, again, you’ll see. Because Maggie was nice. A little of both I think! XD I always find it annoying that villains always send out low level people first and allow the hero to build up his abilities when they could just get it over with by sending out someone powerful. I wanted to put Crowe and Mab as smart villains so yeah! Oh yes, it is. That was a very… interesting… music video btw.
Anon 2: Thank you! It’s nice to hear. Thanks, we’re just about reaching the ‘answer’ phase of the story, I think. I am debating cutting an entire segment to make it shorter. Do you guys think I should? Dude I would ace a class on fanfiction! Got the CCNR for it? As for mythology, I knew a lot of Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Norse coming in, with some Native American stuff thrown in for good measure, and a lot of Aesop. I’ve also been in love with the Arthurian romances forever, though I have rewritten them completely here. A fantastic place to start is Wikipedia, though they usually give you facts and figures as opposed to tales. A good Celtic mythology book will get you fairly far. The Welsh Triads will be useful, as will the Ulster cycle. You don’t need to go read them, they’re really dry! An intermediate knowledge of the history of Britain would be super useful as well. If you google character names, I tried to keep them true to form. Mythology is so fun because it’s what so much of our culture is based on and referenced to. Be careful about websites that want to sell you stuff though!
Crowe 15i/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 12:38 am (UTC)(link)Anon 4: But no one caught the POTC! ;) Lol I try, thanks! He’s sometimes a little close to me sometimes. His inner monologues are fun, but the other characters should learn to cut him off quickly before he works himself up. It’s not good for his health! And thanks for the review!
Reviews are so totally awesome guys! They make me write! Wish me luck on my Chem midterm!
Re: Crowe 15i/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 03:45 am (UTC)(link)I've been rereading The Hobbit so I really like the dwarfs, even if all they've done is speak not-German and fight with our heroes, and I'm excited to see what happens next! (Also why do I have a feeling that Alfred losing that letter is going to come back in a big way?)
Super excited about this super fab update and eagerly awaiting the next one!
Re: Crowe 15i/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 07:36 am (UTC)(link)Anon 2 here, saying that I'll definitely hit Wikipedia up once I find some down time, and then possibly a bookstore or two.
I was proud of myself because in high school, I took German and my senior year we all had to memorize Der Erlkönig. It's one of my favorite poems, and I just love how you tied in the Grimm Brothers. They I know, and I can definitely see how their stories could've been influenced by this fantastical, terrifying world.
As for cutting a part out of this story, while part of me wants to say yes because we'd get to the fucking answers and I'd stop having to rip my hair out every update, I think it's ultimately up to you, but even more than the answers, I'd love to stay in this universe a little while longer. This story is like the novel you pick up on a whim, and then you're absolutely captivated and you finish too quickly, you didn't let enough sink in because you're too busy trying to answer everything all at once, and in the end you're aching for the experience to last even a fraction of a moment longer because you don't want to let go of all those new emotions yet.
No you can't have an unhappy ending if you do then you'll responsible for the entirety of the midwest being flooded in my unending tears.I'm kidding, obviously, but I honestly probably would cry. Heck, even if it's a happy ending, I might cry anyway, because you've immersed us so well into this....Why can't writing research papers be as easy as leaving people comments on fanficiton? Ugh. Good luck on your Chem midterm!
Hey, I've got it. I'll go to your school and punch the test in the face, and then you'll have more time to write another update, ja? Obviously this is the smartest plan you've ever heard, don't try and deny it.Re: Crowe 15i/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 07:54 am (UTC)(link)That dream was very upsetting! Mostly because I thought I'd missed an update or something. :P
As to which of them is most or least human? Ha. Aengus is the only one to have ever BEEN a human, so I think that counts. (And I laughed when Alfred pointed out in the middle of the dragon's rant about short lives that neither of them counted) Least is Adain, because he is a dragon and thinks like a nonhuman. America has never truly been human, but he (his soul?) is connected to living humans and embodied to live as a human so he's almost good enough. (I'm not one of those people who thinks Nations are humans with some extra. I tend to think of them as nearly fae themselves, what with the history of nation goddesses and genius locii and such. Hmm, Alfred has more in common with the Oreads and Dryads than any other spirits, perhaps.)
Should you cut? :( I'm selfish enough to want whatever keeps the story going. So many never get finished. But you've introduced so much complexity that I wonder if cutting would be bad for the overall story.
Re: Crowe 15i/?
(Anonymous) 2012-11-21 04:21 am (UTC)(link)*catches her breath and calms herself*
I'm impressed that you included the religious parts in this fill. Most don't even touch on the possibility of nations being religious at all or believe in god. Well, with the possible exceptions of the Italian brothers and the HRE. Otherwise, nothing.
Disney, Snow White for the Win! But, OMG there are so many references in here. I'm not sure I could list them all, unless I did a re-read. One of my favorite has to be that poem! Alfred's right, if the Grimm brothers had actually ventured there, then that would explain a lot, indeed. Wowee!
All of the things that goes through Alfred's mind from one moment to the next is truly remarkable. It's like my mind, but stuck on random even more often than mine.
I must say this again...Oh Alfred, because I think I would react the same way to a lost first love letter.
I hope you did well on your midterm. I love you Authornon!I'm making lots of sweets and scones tomorrow, and I wish I could give you some. It deserve it!