James patted Arthur sympathetically on the back. “Oh, I know it’s not easy, little brother. I mean, I had to raise you, and that was holy terror enough-” “As I recall, you threw me into a pond to wake me up at least three times a week.” Arthur buried his face in his hands. “It’s just, I don’t know, there’s a lot of responsibility. All these children and it’s just me and sometimes Chiranjeevi and Matthew to keep them from burning down Buckingham Palace. Which isn’t an easy job with Jia Long- I’ve been meaning to ask, none of you’ve been giving him firecrackers again, right?” James, Owain, and Sean suddenly looked suspiciously innocent. Arthur groaned. “Dear Lord.” Owain moved to give Arthur a little shoulder-pat. “It’s not all bad. Hatarei’s doing quite well. Likes sheep, Hatarei does. I’m teaching how to raise them.” The brunet smiled quietly. “Kyle’s learning too.” Sean cut in enthusiastically. “And! Gupta told me your kippers don’t make him want to vomit anymore, so that’s something!” Arthur perked up. “Really?” “We-ell, he said they made him want to gag. Which is progress.”
11:00 Luncheon
Matthew trailed behind Arthur into the kitchen, “Look, Dad, please let me cook? Just this once? Papa taught me how to make croque-monsieurs, I think the others’d really like that…” Arthur completely ignored him, instead heading for the pantry. “Maybe we could ask Chiranjeevi? He’s very good at making breads-” “It’d take too long, Matthew, and it’s strange bread anyway, and he puts what’s-it-called all over it. Dolls. No thank you.” Arthur sorted through the pantry, pulling out a sack of potatoes. “I was thinking maybe a shepherd’s pie? I’ve some mutton left from last night…” He didn’t notice Matthew’s sudden blanching. When Arthur marched into the dining room an hour later, face blackened, he plunked a baking dish down onto the table. In it was something that, by some stretch of the imagination, could just possibly be called quite unlike a shepherd’s pie. “I think it turned out really well this time!” Arthur beamed. Matthew and Chiranjeevi shared a despairing glance.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [3/5?]
Arthur gave a little sigh of relief. Sean and Owain had promised to watch everyone, and he could rest up a bit before holding audience with the Cabinet. With this in mind, he was deep asleep before five minutes had passed. From the doorway, Owain gave a silent signal. Thirteen pairs of feet padded down the hallway, Owain bringing up the rear and shutting the door to the house behind him. Chiranjeevi clapped his hands together. “Well,” he said brightly, “who wants to go get some real food?” Angelique cheered, waving her mackerel (those around her decided that Siale had indeed been right on that subject- it smelt horrible) in the air. Meanwhile, in the now empty house, Arthur dreamt.
Quite a while back There was a boat. It was very well-kept, or as well-kept as it could be after months of sea travel. On it, two brothers stood, the shorter grousing to the taller. “-and Antonio won’t stop cooing over how cute his colonies are- he calls them his little tomatoes, James, it’s weird- and keeps trying to make subtle jokes about my ‘tiny landmass’. I swear, those continentals. But really, just because he suddenly owns an entire continent, doesn’t make him bigger. And it’s not like he can brag, I have seen him naked-” James waved his hand. “Do not need to hear about that.” Arthur rolled his eyes. “And anyway, I just want some of that drink Yao sent me a while back. It was good, maybe there’ll be some here. If not, at least I can shut Antonio up for a while. And maybe even give Mathijs a nasty shock when he tries his hand at trading again.” “It’d take a lot to shock Mathijs, I think.” Arthur smiled. “Well, we’ll see how much, won’t we? Hey, hold up- is that land?”
And a little later than that “So what’s your name, child?” Arthur cooed at the small boy in the grass. “Ah- I’m not sure. I did have one, I did, but I think I forgot.” The boy looked up, all frightened blue eyes. Arthur swept him up. “How’s Alfred sound? It’s a good, strong name.” Alfred nodded. “That’s good. What happens now? D’you have food?” They set off towards the settlement springing up in the meadow. “Of course I’ve got food, lad. And what happens now…” He chuckled. “Now, Antonio gets the surprise of his life.”
Many times “Ah, hello there- are you this country?” “Yes? What do you want?” “Oh, if you’d just live with me. It’ll be fantastic. You’ll meet so many new people, you’ll be a part of the greatest empire to ever grace this earth-” “I- hmm. Can I think about it?” “We’re very rich. And we’ve got this Chinese drink, you wouldn’t believe how good it is, cheers you up a treat. Come along.” “Alright, I guess…” (Except when Chiranjeevi just gave Arthur an odd look and said, we’ve got tea too, and it’s better. Arthur took a few sips and immediately told Chiranjeevi he’d be the best member of the empire there ever was, if Arthur could have a few shiploads of this.)
Arthur slept on, and dreamt of elephants and boats. After two hours, fourteen pairs of feet, connected to now-well-fed bodies, crept past his bedroom door.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [4/7?]
“Oh bollocks, bollocks, bollocks!” Arthur sprinted through the house, scooping up papers, and crashed out the door. This happened nearly every time it was his turn to meet his cabinet, which was often enough that his brothers and colonies ignored it entirely. A bored-looking Khaing handed him a missing dossier, but other than that, they were all squabbling on the floor over some board game. When Arthur slammed through the door to the meeting room, out of breath and covered in street muck halfway to his knees, the Secretary of State for Defense shot him a Look. Arthur took his seat sheepishly, wondering if the secretary could be taken in for treason for that look. The meeting got underway reasonably well, as they usually did, and Arthur was thinking that something might actually be accomplished when he heard a noise. Baaing. Why were there sheep in a government building? This question was answered thirty seconds later when Hatarei entered the room, smiling vaguely, riding a very large ewe. This strange sight was followed by roughly eight more sheep crowding into the room, baaing and chewing on anything that caught their fancy (nearly including the Secretary of State for Justice, before he climbed onto the sideboard). “Papa Arthur!” Hatarei had trotted up to him, still seated on the ewe. “Look what Uncle Owain taught me to do!” “Oh dear Lord.” “Arthur. Kirkland.” Oh dear, the Lord President of the Council was absolutely livid. “Explain this. Now.” “Aah…” Arthur floundered. Meanwhile, one sheep was disinterestedly eating the minutes. “You see…” Hatarei was absently scratching behind the ewe’s ears. “It’s, ah… a children thing. They, um. Like sheep.” “’M not a child,” Hatarei hummed. “Yes, well, anyhow, they like sheep. And, uh… the sheep like them back, but now the sheep would probably want to go back where they came from isn’t that so Hatarei?” And with that, Arthur dragged Hatarei and the ewe out of the room, the rest of the sheep following when Hatarei whistled. “Never, never do that again,” Arthur hissed as he marched his strange entourage down the street. “But Uncle Owain said you’d like it…”
17:00 Late tea
“You’re doing this wrong,” Jia Long said. “No, no I’m not. I’m doing it properly. The proper, English way.” “Hey!” “Oh, all right, the proper English, Scottish, and sometimes Irish-” “And Welsh.” “Yes, yes, and Welsh way.” Jia Long sniffed haughtily. “Uh-uh. This is not the proper way. Ge-ge Yao taught me the right way. Your cups are all wrong, and you brewed it funny.” “Oh, you should talk about brewing tea funny,” Chiranjeevi sniped. “All of you boil it far too little, and Jia, you don’t put nearly enough milk in.” “Ruins the flavor.” “As if yours even has any.” Khaing piped up from the far end of the table. “You all make your tea wrong. I know the right way.” “Oh, do tell,” snapped Arthur. “Everybody just shut up and eat your biscuits.” Nobody moved. “Sean made them.” Chewing was the only sound heard for a little while. “You see, it has to steep for a really really long time, and then you put in-” “Oh for God’s sakes!”
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [5/7?]
Angelique was near tears. “Oh dear,” Arthur murmured, stooping so his face was level with hers. “What is it, love?” “S-s-supper,” she choked out. “What’s wrong with it? It can’t be the preparation, I made very sure to follow the recipe exactly-” “N-not that.” (Actually, it partly was, but the main thing-) “Well then? What is it?” Arthur felt a little overwhelmed. He always did, when faced with crying children. “I-it’s- it’s- f-f-fish-h!” “We’ve had fish before, love,” Arthur said, “and you didn’t cry then.” “B-but this one l-looks like Em-emmanuelle!” “But it isn’t. Look, Emmanuelle’s right there-” and it stank, he should try and swap it out again- “so stop crying and let’s go to table.” Angelique looked unconvinced. “Wh-what if it’s one o-of Emmanuelle’s friends? A-and she sees and gets s-sad?” Arthur rolled his eyes briefly skyward. I don’t know if I’m Catholic or Protestant, but God could you help me out here? “I’m sure Emmanuelle doesn’t know any fish around here. Suppertime, now.” Angelique sniffled a little, but followed him anyway.
20:30 Bedtime
“And that is how I defeated Antonio once and for all!” Arthur looked around the large room, feeling quite pleased. Until Jia Long opened his mouth. “Why do I have to go to sleep now? I’m not tired.” Arthur paused in the doorway. “Growing nations need their rest, Jia Long.” “Ge-ge Yao let me stay up as late as I wanted.” “I’m not Yao,” Arthur huffed. “Now go to sleep.” He was halfway down the stairs and back to the room where Chiranjeevi, Matthew, Gupta, and his brothers were drinking more tea and chattering when Sajith shouted down the hallway. “AR-THUR!” “What is it?” When he entered the room, Sajith was sitting straight up. “Tell another story!” “No. Go to sleep.” “When I lived with Chiranjeevi, he’d tell me so many stories-” “Well, why don’t you ask him next time?” Wrong answer. Sajith took a huge breath. “CHI-RAN-JEE-VI!!” A faint “What?” drifted up from downstairs, barely audible over the ringing in Arthur’s ears. “STORY!” Footsteps, and then the Indian entered the children’s room. “Alright, then,” he smiled. “Which one would you like?” Arthur slipped discreetly out of the room and down the stairs. About an hour later, an exhausted-looking Chiranjeevi followed. “Never, ever let me do that again,” he groaned. “They kept asking questions. Kyle wants to know ‘how come an elephant came out of that milk if there weren’t any falling into it before or something’.” “He asked me a few nights ago why Merlin didn’t just magic himself out of the tree.” James added, “He asked me why anybody’d want to take a seal for a wife. Which is a fair question, mind, but if nobody did there’d be no story.” Arthur looked quizzical. “Why would anybody marry a seal? Whenever you went to bed, there’d be a great fat blubbery wet cold thing there. Making those odd noises.” “Probably for the same reason Herakles keeps telling those stories where the ladies and the swans-” began Sean. “Sometimes bulls,” mused Matthew. “Actually, quite often, bulls. One time, it was gold.” Chiranjeevi fixed them all with an odd stare. “And you call Gupta and I weird for having animal-headed gods.”
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
Matthew was the first to leave, stretching and yawning, followed by Gupta, who simply padded down the hallway without a word. Owain followed, and Chiranjeevi got up shortly after, muttering something about getting up early for proper food. Sean glanced at Arthur. “Still worried about how well you’re doing?” Arthur grunts noncommittally. “Well, don’t. You’re doing amazing. You know, for someone raised by us.” James smiled wryly. “At least nobody’s burned anything down.” “There was that one time-” Sean began, but James hastily cut in. “-Not all the way down, anyways.” Arthur grinned, a bit ruefully. “And at least nobody’s caused irreparable damage to any major landmarks.” “That was one time!” Sean protested. “And I apologized to Henry about it, too!” “Right.” Arthur grunted and stretched. “Well, I’m off to bed. ‘Night.” “’Night,” chorused his brothers.
Arthur woke at six in the morning to Khaing’s foot in his back, Angelique’s fish across his neck, and Muhammad on his chest. Just another day.
Notes: "Ko Matthew, U Owain": Burmese honorifics. Roughly, "(big) brother Matthew, uncle Owain". I could be wrong.
croque-monsieur: French grilled ham and cheese sandwich
whats-it-called, dolls: dal is split dried beans, also the stew made from them. Used as flatbread topping in North India and Pakistan.
shepherd's pie: kind of like a mutton casserole
the Cabinet: part of the UK's government. Like the US Cabinet.
the tea argument: let's just say there are many, many different ways to prepare tea
the stories: James is talking about selkies, which are like mermaids except with seals. The milk is a reference to the Hindu churning-of-the-ocean myth: when the ocean of milk is churned, one of the things that comes out is an elephant. Merlin was trapped in a tree by Vivien, and many many many Greek myths involve bestiality-with-gods.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard at this. It's funny, but I've read that some British were not all that enthusiastic about the Empire thing to begin with back in the day, and some were sort of relieved when the whole thing came to an end--this is perfect for showing the mixed feelings involved.
!!!! this is great. and funny. thank you! I'd thought my request would be deleted due to my fail posting so this was a very pleasant surprise. ...i'm reading this cute fic again now. right!
Thanks everyone for all the nice comments! I was a little worried about this fill, so it's really great to see people like it! And yes, sheep should be in every government ever.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
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Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [2/4?]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 08:53 am (UTC)(link)James patted Arthur sympathetically on the back.
“Oh, I know it’s not easy, little brother. I mean, I had to raise you, and that was holy terror enough-”
“As I recall, you threw me into a pond to wake me up at least three times a week.” Arthur buried his face in his hands. “It’s just, I don’t know, there’s a lot of responsibility. All these children and it’s just me and sometimes Chiranjeevi and Matthew to keep them from burning down Buckingham Palace. Which isn’t an easy job with Jia Long- I’ve been meaning to ask, none of you’ve been giving him firecrackers again, right?”
James, Owain, and Sean suddenly looked suspiciously innocent. Arthur groaned. “Dear Lord.”
Owain moved to give Arthur a little shoulder-pat. “It’s not all bad. Hatarei’s doing quite well. Likes sheep, Hatarei does. I’m teaching how to raise them.” The brunet smiled quietly. “Kyle’s learning too.”
Sean cut in enthusiastically. “And! Gupta told me your kippers don’t make him want to vomit anymore, so that’s something!”
Arthur perked up. “Really?”
“We-ell, he said they made him want to gag. Which is progress.”
11:00 Luncheon
Matthew trailed behind Arthur into the kitchen, “Look, Dad, please let me cook? Just this once? Papa taught me how to make croque-monsieurs, I think the others’d really like that…”
Arthur completely ignored him, instead heading for the pantry.
“Maybe we could ask Chiranjeevi? He’s very good at making breads-”
“It’d take too long, Matthew, and it’s strange bread anyway, and he puts what’s-it-called all over it. Dolls. No thank you.” Arthur sorted through the pantry, pulling out a sack of potatoes. “I was thinking maybe a shepherd’s pie? I’ve some mutton left from last night…” He didn’t notice Matthew’s sudden blanching.
When Arthur marched into the dining room an hour later, face blackened, he plunked a baking dish down onto the table. In it was something that, by some stretch of the imagination, could just possibly be called quite unlike a shepherd’s pie.
“I think it turned out really well this time!” Arthur beamed.
Matthew and Chiranjeevi shared a despairing glance.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [3/5?]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 08:54 am (UTC)(link)Arthur gave a little sigh of relief. Sean and Owain had promised to watch everyone, and he could rest up a bit before holding audience with the Cabinet.
With this in mind, he was deep asleep before five minutes had passed.
From the doorway, Owain gave a silent signal. Thirteen pairs of feet padded down the hallway, Owain bringing up the rear and shutting the door to the house behind him.
Chiranjeevi clapped his hands together. “Well,” he said brightly, “who wants to go get some real food?”
Angelique cheered, waving her mackerel (those around her decided that Siale had indeed been right on that subject- it smelt horrible) in the air.
Meanwhile, in the now empty house, Arthur dreamt.
Quite a while back
There was a boat.
It was very well-kept, or as well-kept as it could be after months of sea travel.
On it, two brothers stood, the shorter grousing to the taller.
“-and Antonio won’t stop cooing over how cute his colonies are- he calls them his little tomatoes, James, it’s weird- and keeps trying to make subtle jokes about my ‘tiny landmass’. I swear, those continentals. But really, just because he suddenly owns an entire continent, doesn’t make him bigger. And it’s not like he can brag, I have seen him naked-”
James waved his hand. “Do not need to hear about that.”
Arthur rolled his eyes. “And anyway, I just want some of that drink Yao sent me a while back. It was good, maybe there’ll be some here. If not, at least I can shut Antonio up for a while. And maybe even give Mathijs a nasty shock when he tries his hand at trading again.”
“It’d take a lot to shock Mathijs, I think.”
Arthur smiled. “Well, we’ll see how much, won’t we? Hey, hold up- is that land?”
And a little later than that
“So what’s your name, child?” Arthur cooed at the small boy in the grass.
“Ah- I’m not sure. I did have one, I did, but I think I forgot.” The boy looked up, all frightened blue eyes.
Arthur swept him up. “How’s Alfred sound? It’s a good, strong name.”
Alfred nodded. “That’s good. What happens now? D’you have food?”
They set off towards the settlement springing up in the meadow. “Of course I’ve got food, lad. And what happens now…” He chuckled. “Now, Antonio gets the surprise of his life.”
Many times
“Ah, hello there- are you this country?”
“Yes? What do you want?”
“Oh, if you’d just live with me. It’ll be fantastic. You’ll meet so many new people, you’ll be a part of the greatest empire to ever grace this earth-”
“I- hmm. Can I think about it?”
“We’re very rich. And we’ve got this Chinese drink, you wouldn’t believe how good it is, cheers you up a treat. Come along.”
“Alright, I guess…”
(Except when Chiranjeevi just gave Arthur an odd look and said, we’ve got tea too, and it’s better. Arthur took a few sips and immediately told Chiranjeevi he’d be the best member of the empire there ever was, if Arthur could have a few shiploads of this.)
Arthur slept on, and dreamt of elephants and boats.
After two hours, fourteen pairs of feet, connected to now-well-fed bodies, crept past his bedroom door.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [4/7?]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 08:55 am (UTC)(link)“Oh bollocks, bollocks, bollocks!”
Arthur sprinted through the house, scooping up papers, and crashed out the door. This happened nearly every time it was his turn to meet his cabinet, which was often enough that his brothers and colonies ignored it entirely. A bored-looking Khaing handed him a missing dossier, but other than that, they were all squabbling on the floor over some board game.
When Arthur slammed through the door to the meeting room, out of breath and covered in street muck halfway to his knees, the Secretary of State for Defense shot him a Look. Arthur took his seat sheepishly, wondering if the secretary could be taken in for treason for that look.
The meeting got underway reasonably well, as they usually did, and Arthur was thinking that something might actually be accomplished when he heard a noise.
Baaing.
Why were there sheep in a government building?
This question was answered thirty seconds later when Hatarei entered the room, smiling vaguely, riding a very large ewe. This strange sight was followed by roughly eight more sheep crowding into the room, baaing and chewing on anything that caught their fancy (nearly including the Secretary of State for Justice, before he climbed onto the sideboard).
“Papa Arthur!” Hatarei had trotted up to him, still seated on the ewe. “Look what Uncle Owain taught me to do!”
“Oh dear Lord.”
“Arthur. Kirkland.” Oh dear, the Lord President of the Council was absolutely livid. “Explain this. Now.”
“Aah…” Arthur floundered. Meanwhile, one sheep was disinterestedly eating the minutes. “You see…” Hatarei was absently scratching behind the ewe’s ears. “It’s, ah… a children thing. They, um. Like sheep.”
“’M not a child,” Hatarei hummed.
“Yes, well, anyhow, they like sheep. And, uh… the sheep like them back, but now the sheep would probably want to go back where they came from isn’t that so Hatarei?”
And with that, Arthur dragged Hatarei and the ewe out of the room, the rest of the sheep following when Hatarei whistled.
“Never, never do that again,” Arthur hissed as he marched his strange entourage down the street.
“But Uncle Owain said you’d like it…”
17:00 Late tea
“You’re doing this wrong,” Jia Long said.
“No, no I’m not. I’m doing it properly. The proper, English way.”
“Hey!”
“Oh, all right, the proper English, Scottish, and sometimes Irish-”
“And Welsh.”
“Yes, yes, and Welsh way.”
Jia Long sniffed haughtily. “Uh-uh. This is not the proper way. Ge-ge Yao taught me the right way. Your cups are all wrong, and you brewed it funny.”
“Oh, you should talk about brewing tea funny,” Chiranjeevi sniped. “All of you boil it far too little, and Jia, you don’t put nearly enough milk in.”
“Ruins the flavor.”
“As if yours even has any.”
Khaing piped up from the far end of the table. “You all make your tea wrong. I know the right way.”
“Oh, do tell,” snapped Arthur. “Everybody just shut up and eat your biscuits.”
Nobody moved.
“Sean made them.”
Chewing was the only sound heard for a little while.
“You see, it has to steep for a really really long time, and then you put in-”
“Oh for God’s sakes!”
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [5/7?]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 08:56 am (UTC)(link)Angelique was near tears.
“Oh dear,” Arthur murmured, stooping so his face was level with hers. “What is it, love?”
“S-s-supper,” she choked out.
“What’s wrong with it? It can’t be the preparation, I made very sure to follow the recipe exactly-”
“N-not that.” (Actually, it partly was, but the main thing-)
“Well then? What is it?” Arthur felt a little overwhelmed. He always did, when faced with crying children.
“I-it’s- it’s- f-f-fish-h!”
“We’ve had fish before, love,” Arthur said, “and you didn’t cry then.”
“B-but this one l-looks like Em-emmanuelle!”
“But it isn’t. Look, Emmanuelle’s right there-” and it stank, he should try and swap it out again- “so stop crying and let’s go to table.”
Angelique looked unconvinced. “Wh-what if it’s one o-of Emmanuelle’s friends? A-and she sees and gets s-sad?”
Arthur rolled his eyes briefly skyward. I don’t know if I’m Catholic or Protestant, but God could you help me out here? “I’m sure Emmanuelle doesn’t know any fish around here. Suppertime, now.”
Angelique sniffled a little, but followed him anyway.
20:30 Bedtime
“And that is how I defeated Antonio once and for all!” Arthur looked around the large room, feeling quite pleased. Until Jia Long opened his mouth.
“Why do I have to go to sleep now? I’m not tired.”
Arthur paused in the doorway. “Growing nations need their rest, Jia Long.”
“Ge-ge Yao let me stay up as late as I wanted.”
“I’m not Yao,” Arthur huffed. “Now go to sleep.”
He was halfway down the stairs and back to the room where Chiranjeevi, Matthew, Gupta, and his brothers were drinking more tea and chattering when Sajith shouted down the hallway.
“AR-THUR!”
“What is it?”
When he entered the room, Sajith was sitting straight up. “Tell another story!”
“No. Go to sleep.”
“When I lived with Chiranjeevi, he’d tell me so many stories-”
“Well, why don’t you ask him next time?”
Wrong answer. Sajith took a huge breath. “CHI-RAN-JEE-VI!!”
A faint “What?” drifted up from downstairs, barely audible over the ringing in Arthur’s ears.
“STORY!”
Footsteps, and then the Indian entered the children’s room. “Alright, then,” he smiled. “Which one would you like?”
Arthur slipped discreetly out of the room and down the stairs.
About an hour later, an exhausted-looking Chiranjeevi followed. “Never, ever let me do that again,” he groaned. “They kept asking questions. Kyle wants to know ‘how come an elephant came out of that milk if there weren’t any falling into it before or something’.”
“He asked me a few nights ago why Merlin didn’t just magic himself out of the tree.”
James added, “He asked me why anybody’d want to take a seal for a wife. Which is a fair question, mind, but if nobody did there’d be no story.”
Arthur looked quizzical. “Why would anybody marry a seal? Whenever you went to bed, there’d be a great fat blubbery wet cold thing there. Making those odd noises.”
“Probably for the same reason Herakles keeps telling those stories where the ladies and the swans-” began Sean.
“Sometimes bulls,” mused Matthew. “Actually, quite often, bulls. One time, it was gold.”
Chiranjeevi fixed them all with an odd stare. “And you call Gupta and I weird for having animal-headed gods.”
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 09:05 am (UTC)(link)Matthew was the first to leave, stretching and yawning, followed by Gupta, who simply padded down the hallway without a word. Owain followed, and Chiranjeevi got up shortly after, muttering something about getting up early for proper food.
Sean glanced at Arthur. “Still worried about how well you’re doing?”
Arthur grunts noncommittally.
“Well, don’t. You’re doing amazing. You know, for someone raised by us.” James smiled wryly. “At least nobody’s burned anything down.”
“There was that one time-” Sean began, but James hastily cut in. “-Not all the way down, anyways.”
Arthur grinned, a bit ruefully. “And at least nobody’s caused irreparable damage to any major landmarks.”
“That was one time!” Sean protested. “And I apologized to Henry about it, too!”
“Right.” Arthur grunted and stretched. “Well, I’m off to bed. ‘Night.”
“’Night,” chorused his brothers.
Arthur woke at six in the morning to Khaing’s foot in his back, Angelique’s fish across his neck, and Muhammad on his chest.
Just another day.
Notes: "Ko Matthew, U Owain": Burmese honorifics. Roughly, "(big) brother Matthew, uncle Owain". I could be wrong.
croque-monsieur: French grilled ham and cheese sandwich
whats-it-called, dolls: dal is split dried beans, also the stew made from them. Used as flatbread topping in North India and Pakistan.
shepherd's pie: kind of like a mutton casserole
the Cabinet: part of the UK's government. Like the US Cabinet.
the tea argument: let's just say there are many, many different ways to prepare tea
the stories: James is talking about selkies, which are like mermaids except with seals. The milk is a reference to the Hindu churning-of-the-ocean myth: when the ocean of milk is churned, one of the things that comes out is an elephant. Merlin was trapped in a tree by Vivien, and many many many Greek myths involve bestiality-with-gods.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)great job, a!anon!
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)op here
(Anonymous) 2012-11-24 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)I'd thought my request would be deleted due to my fail posting so this was a very pleasant surprise.
...i'm reading this cute fic again now. right!
re: op here
(Anonymous) 2012-11-26 04:44 am (UTC)(link)And yes, sheep should be in every government ever.
Re: A Day in the Life of an Empire; or, Why Colonies Are a Bother [6/6 & notes]
(Anonymous) 2013-02-15 09:04 am (UTC)(link)No other words for it, except maybe extremely funny, and the entire thesaurus entry for both words.
But other than that. No words but Adorable.
Ah, author!anon forgot!
(Anonymous) 2012-11-23 09:44 am (UTC)(link)