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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Jan 5, 2011 23:28:56 GMT -5
It had been two days since the ship had arrived in London, and he had returned to his neat home. His garden, largely made up of roses had been close to how he had left them, although that may simply be his pedantic ness talking. He leaned back in his chair, a large comfortable one he had chosen himself, and looked around the office. England had paperwork to catch up on, which meant the tea he had been hoping to drink had become stone cold. Stacking the papers neatly, he stood up. One of his maids would collect the abandoned tea.
He walked out of the spacious office and down the hallway, deciding to check on his newest colony. He gently knocked on the man’s room door, not sure if he was in there or not. Trying to adjust the Maori-raised nation was a difficulty largely brought about by language barriers. How do you explain how to tie a bow tie, or even a regular tie, to a person that couldn’t understand a word coming out of your mouth? He had allowed Aotearoa the opportunity to rest and adjust for a couple of days, but today he had put his foot down and told him to dress in English fashion. Afterall, none of the other colonies were allowed to get away with it, and if he had let the new one, there would have been mayhem due to the lack of fairness. He knocked again, hoping the nation was now dressed.
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Post by William Kirkland on Jan 6, 2011 1:12:23 GMT -5
Aotearoa stared at the flat clothes laid out on his bed. They were very different to his usual clothes, but for some reason he wasn't allowed to wear his usual clothes any more. There were also some strange heavy things he was supposed to wear on his feet nearby on the floor. England had shown him how to put the heavy things on yesterday, but he wasn't sure he could remember all of it.
He picked up the leg coverings and frowned. Which way around did they go? He tried them on both ways around, and found the second way was more comfortable than the first so he left it at that. The shirt was another matter as it always seemed like one side was longer than the other no matter how he did it up, and the small things to close it were really difficult to grip. Eventually he gave up on getting it right.
He heard a knock at the door while he was looking at the first layer of foot coverings, but he ignored it. They were soft and could be scrunched up in his hands, but no, they had to go on his feet. He put one on and it felt weird to cover up his feet with these things, but not uncomfortable. He picked up one of the heavy things, and went to put it on his feet. He knew the string things on it were to be tied, but he didn't remember how. He remembered watching England make loops with the strings and then they were tied, but how he did it was confusing. He tried to make the loops too, but as soon as he let go of the string the loops vanished. Never mind.
He also looked at the strip of material England had called a tie, and he couldn't remember how to put it on either, so he left it on the bed for now. Maybe England could show him again how to use it. He heard another knock at the door, and went to answer it. Unfortunately he stood on the strings of one of the heavy foot things on the way to the door, and fell on the floor. Ouch.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Jan 6, 2011 1:40:40 GMT -5
England waited, receiving no reply, but the loud thump of something heavy landing on the floor gave him reason to enter. Opening the door cautiously, slowly, and looked around. He saw Aotearoa on the floor, having obviously tripped on his untied shoes, and couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t a malicious laugh, but a kinder one. He helped Aotearoa up again.
“I didn’t show you how to tie laces very well did I?” he asked, briefly forgetting that the other nation most likely couldn’t understand a word he was saying. It was instinctive for him to make remarks such as that, not thinking.
He grabbed Aotearoa’s foot and began to tie the laces painfully slowly, hoping that this would help the other nation in future. He found it odd to help a more mature nation learn to tie laces, after all, that was what he used to do with the younger nations. Finally tying one, he put the other shoe on Aotearoa’s other foot and tied that one as well. He grabbed the tie from the bed and wrapped it around Aotearoa’s neck, tying it easily. He’d done this a thousand times, at least. For himself, for his colonies. Especially America and Australia, neither enjoying the restriction of the tie.
He tidied Aotearoa’s collar and nodded, satisfied. “Okay, there you go”, he said with a satisfied nod. England remembered the vest and held it out to Aotearoa, waiting for him to put it on. Although he knew the other nation wasn’t exactly comfortable in the change in culture, including attire, he was being significantly less vocal, and physical, about his distaste then he was when he was a child, which relieved England. Well, how exactly do you deal with a nation that was misbehaving like a child? Scolding, putting in the corner and such only worked on rebellious children. Not adults. He knew for a fact they didn’t work, having tried everything on the first colonies he had ‘discovered’… or ‘rediscovered’ more like.
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Post by William Kirkland on Jan 6, 2011 4:00:45 GMT -5
Aotearoa saw the door open as he started to pick himself up, and saw England walk in. He seemed to find him falling over amusing, kind of like how he found it amusing to see kids tripping over their own spear while figuring out how to hold it and walk at the same time. England helped him up, and said something unintelligible, then slowly showed him again how to tie his shoes. He watched closely so he'd have a chance of getting it right.
Then England put the tie on him, and he tried to see how to do it. England did all the movements slowly so Aotearoa could get an idea of how it was done, and then tightened the tie so it sat at his neck. The tie felt really uncomfortable being that close to his neck, but he put up with it for the time being.
England said something unintelligible again, and then handed Aotearoa yet another piece of clothing to put on. As he did so he started thinking about words, and how much easier all of these things would be if what England said to him actually sounded like words. After months of being surrounded by people whose words didn't sound like words he was starting to get more than a little frustrated. Perhaps they needed to learn what words sounded like, starting with England.
He walked over to the open door. He held the door with one hand and hit it with the other, saying "kūaha" (door). Not the best word to start with, but it would do for now. He was willing to keep doing that for as long as it took for England to figure out what he was doing, and either start learning his language and/or teach him his own.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Jan 16, 2011 2:04:44 GMT -5
England nodded, pleased with how well the other nation looked in more modern attire. However if he were to be perfectly honest he hated the clothes with a lot of passion. I wish I could wear my other suits, he thought, finding the clothing to be slightly restricting, and frankly his idea of fashion had changed so much, he thought them downright ugly. He was about to go back out and take Aotearoa to get some food, since it was afternoon teatime. Ah, I wonder what cook made for us today? He thought. She never fails to make something wonderful. He headed toward the door but stopped, startled. The nation hitting the door made him fearful that maybe he was going to attack or something. Blinking, he realized that the other nation was trying to teach him his own language. “Kūaha is… door?” he asked, the Maori word coming out slightly wrong.
Tapping the door himself, he said calmly, “Door”. If he’s going to teach me his language, I might as well teach him some of mine. He will need it not only now, in society, to get what he wants, but in the future as well, he decided. His stomach grumbled softly and he realized how hungry it was. It seemed his stomach had a clock that had to be kept to. “Food?” he asked, rubbing his stomach lightly to ask if the other was hungry, and also to indicate that it may be time to eat. I hope there’s scones…
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Post by William Kirkland on Jan 25, 2011 11:41:53 GMT -5
Good, he understood what he was doing! Aotearoa stopped hitting the door when England attempted to pronounce the word. Not perfect, but at least he was trying and how to say words can be learned. England then hit the door himself, and said what it was in his language.
"Door."
Aotearoa stared at England for a moment. He just said something that sounded clear! So it was called a door?
"Door." Aotearoa tried his best to remember that word, and then saw England rubbing his stomach. Was it time for a meal or something? His own stomach growled a little, and he nodded. He left the room, and tried to remember which way the kitchen was. He looked down the hallway in both directions, and noticed the smell of food was stronger from the left. He started moving in that direction, and wondered if he and England were the only ones living here or if there were more people he didn't know about.
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