Family Ties [Part 4]
Title: Family Ties
Characters (in this chapter): Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, America, Russia, Australia, India mentions of others.
Rating: 12? I guess? It's another bridge chapter idk.
Warnings: You may start to feel very sorry for Wales. And hate timezones.
Summary: Uh, I need to be banned from the kink meme or monsters like this happen? Essentially, Scotland leaves the UK, which gives Northern Ireland an excuse to up and out as well, which leaves England and Wales all alone.
The second half of the meeting was uneventful, on the grand scale of things, until Ireland walked in.
Generally, Ireland didn’t bother turning up to meetings. Usual business of things would mean that England would take notes, send them to his brothers, and Northern Ireland (unless he was sulking and having one of his “she isn’t my sister” days) would send them to her. This meant she could stay at home and take care of matters there, rather than waste money traveling to wherever the meeting was being held this time.
But as Northern Ireland has returned to being with her, and England wasn’t in charge any more, things had to change.
Her entrance was by no means understated. She hadn’t bothered to tie her hair up, leaving it to cascade over her shoulders in crimson curls. Her suit was formal but feminine, a dark green that brought out her eyes. Eyebrows plucked into an acceptable, non-bushy manner, one quirked in an amused way when she caught America’s eye. Northern Ireland followed behind her, looking a lot happier than he had in a while and carrying his sister’s briefcase for her.
“Well somebody’s gone the whole hog.” Called Scotland, leaning back in his chair and grinning. “Welcome back, sister.”
“Can’t say I missed it.” Ireland returned, as Èibhear grabbed another chair for her to sit on. “Sleeping in ‘til noon is a luxury I used to be able to afford. Ah well.” She shrugged, giving her brother a little smile as she settled in the chair.
“Ye lazy cow!” laughed James. Both redheads grinned at each other for a little while longer, until England entered the room with Wales.
There was a tense moment as the family stared at each other.
“… well if this is how it is now, Christmas is going to suck this year.” Muttered Northern Ireland. His sister snorted.
“If you stand there in the door for long enough, leanbh, you’ll take root, and James’ll have to caber toss you to get you out.” She smirked teasingly. England went pink and rolled his eyes, stalking over to his chair. Wales gave his sister a scolding look, to which she simply shrugged and grinned.
“You’re in a good mood today.” He commented, pausing as England continued on to his seat. The red head snorted.
“Why wouldn’t I be? This is going to be a right laugh.” She chuckled.
“Da, is already amusing.” Came a voice from the right. Russia loomed, and had Wales been less used to things popping out of nowhere he would have jumped.
“Russia!” cried Ireland happily, rising from her seat to give the giant of a nation a quick hug. “We haven’t had a good chat since 1918!”
“A great shame, we should talk more often.” He agreed, nodding amiably. Wales slowly backed away to a safer distance. He could feel England’s eyes trained on the situation.
“You an’ me need to go out on a bender. I bet I could drink you under the table.” Ireland challenged, tossing back her hair. Russia raised his eyebrows.
“I do not see why we should need to be under a table, but da, I like this idea.”
Ireland seized his hand and shook it enthusiastically. “It’s a deal then! See,” she added over her shoulder to her brother, who was staring up at the much taller Russian with terrified eyes. “Something good came out of coming already!”
Russia drifted off before Northern Ireland could perfect his Latvia impression. As soon as the giant Nation was gone however, Taiwan pounced, chattering happily away with the other female nation, with China eventually coming over to discuss something to do with trade. Wales lost interest and wandered over to England, who was watching Scotland and France discussing something.
“I bet they’re up to something.” He grumbled. Wales suppressed a sigh.
“Paranoia won’t get you anywhere. France isn’t out to get you anymore, and won’t side with James for the sole reason that you are on the other side.” He reasoned slowly, and watched England picking at a corner of a finance report distractedly.
“I’m not paranoid, I’m just aware.” the shorter Nation mumbled.
“America!” called Ireland’s voice. England’s head snapped round in time to see his former colony uncurl from his chair (why did he look like he’d been crying?) and look over at his aunt, who seemed to be striding over with purpose.
“Oh, hey Aine- ow!” he yelped as the island nation smacked him upside the head. “What was that for!”
“For not greeting me, you little brat!” scolded Ireland, irritated expression fading after only a few seconds of making America cower. She held her arms out and grinned. “Now give me a hug, stupid. It’s been what, 20 years?”
“Well you can’t tell me they’re not up to something.” Groused England, sitting hunched over in his chair.
Wales couldn’t keep back the sigh this time.
-------------
Wales was getting sick of people calling him at ungodly hours of the morning.
Rolling over in bed, he groped blindly for the phone, on his bed side table, before mumbling blearily. “No Arthur, we can’t declare war on James f’r whatever reason y’ve thought of this time.”
“Uncle Wales?”
He was also sick of guessing who was calling wrong.
“Australia, it’s three in the bloody mornin’ lad.” He groaned rolling back onto his bed and pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t like he disliked Australia. The kid was practically his son in the same way America was practically England’s. New South Wales and all.
“Sorry, sorry! I just heard about what happened with Scotland and Ireland. A certain someone forgot to tell me.” In the background, he could hear a distinctly New Zealand accented “you didn’t ask”, along with something that sounded like “not my fault your brain fried in the sun three centuries back”.
“’S only been a few days, boyo. You’re not that late.” He blinked blearily at the darkened ceiling. The street lights through the trees outside made a shadow that looked vaguely like a skeletal dragon dance on the walls. Maybe it was an omen of his impending death by sleep deprivation.
"Well good, because otherwise there'd be trouble down under as well as up top." Wales rolled his eyes at the siblings' usual bickering. Of all the things they had to inherit...
"Anything else y' want to ask me before I go back to bed?"
"Uh, yeah, is England taking it okay?" trying to sound nonchalant and offhand wasn't working when there was such concern underlying his words. "He doesn't deal with breakups well."
"He's been boozing a bit, but I've kept him from giving the whole country alcohol poisoning." or however these things worked. To be honest, two thousand years had done nothing to help the Nations really pin down what they were or which way round things went. Did Nations affect their people or people their Nations? Neither? Both? Best not to think about it. Headaches lay there. And he might summon Greece by accident with all the philosophy.
"Good." Australia paused. "And try to keep him from waging war on Scotland. I know you Europeans can't help yourselves but-" there was a teasing edge to his voice. Wales' lips twitched up into a smile.
"I'll keep him in line."
"Great. Good. Because he's not allowed to get his ass kicked or die or anything okay?" the last sentence rushed out so fast that Wales' sleep fogged mind almost didn't catch all of it. "Okay, so this call, I've just noticed, is costing me $20 a minute, so I'll call you back when I'm not about to go under. Bye!"
Wales flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ominous shadows. They'd somehow shifted into something more like a rabbit than a dragon. And with that half delirious thought in mind, he drifted back to sleep...
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... only to be woken up again by that blasted ringing.
It was light outside, but just barely. Lack of sleep from the night before was doing nothing to help his headache, nor was the shrill and insistent ringing of the phone he still had in his hand. Finally answering it after determining that Arthur was obviously still too hung over to do it himself, he grumbled an irritated "Kirkland residence. If this isn't some kind of call to action I'm putting down the phone right now."
"Hello sir," said a thickly accented Indian woman. "Are you interested in bank savings-"
Wales slammed down the phone, hard.
When it rang again not thirty seconds later, he was a little faster picking it up.
"What do you want?" he growled, his legendary patience beginning to wear thin.
"Holy Shiva, you can't take a joke." came the irritated and yet amused sounding voice from earlier, only with much improved accent and pronunciation. She could have been from Oxford, were it not for the way she said 'Shiva'.
"Gah... sorry, India." Wales apologised, resisting the urge to face palm or smack his head on the headboard. "Rough night."
"Yes, I can tell." she was definitely amused. "So, chaos as usual at your house, right?" Now, Wales didn't personally know India all that well; it had been mainly England running all around the world and such. But he did know when the woman was asking a loaded question. She wanted more than a simple answer.
"Scotland and Northern Ireland left the Union and England's been depressed about it ever since." so Wales gave the straight answer. "I had to stop him beating his brother to death is a flag pole the other day."
India made a disapproving click with her tongue, like a parent hearing about a misbehaving child. "Europeans, always jumping into their fights." Wales thought this statement a little unfair; India had been quite the rebellious one before she fell for Gandhi. "Hmm, maybe I should visit to make him feel better?" she laughed softly.
"Sorry to say, that'll probably depress him more, Maya." Wales pointed out. Visits from India were always fun (it meant edible food for once), but often left Arthur down when she inevitably had to return home.
She hummed sympathetically. "A man like Arthur is not happy without having someone to rule over. His ego demands it." she observed. Wales nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see him. "It is sad to see a king lose his status. But it is the way things go. He must either accept it, or fight his way back. I do not think he would so quickly chose the latter anymore."
Nor did Wales.
Notes (mostly on Ireland):
- Russia was the first country to recognise Ireland's independence from England in 1918. They're on pretty good terms.
- Taiwan and China are the 7th biggest traders with Ireland, and despite some issues over human rights, they're pretty chummy too. *pictures Taiwan and Ireland doing each others hair*
- America and Ireland are on fantastic terms, mostly due to the huge immigration from Ireland that America originally had. America's still feeling bad from Canada's rant, though, so he didn't leap up and jump on her like he did with Scotland.
- As a little note, Ireland's full name is Aine O'Brian. Northern Ireland is Èibhear Kirkland-O'Brian. Long name is looooong.
- Aine's name is pronounced "Awn-ye". Like Anya with an Irish accent. Arthur probably butchers the pronunciation no end.
Part 5
Characters (in this chapter): Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, America, Russia, Australia, India mentions of others.
Rating: 12? I guess? It's another bridge chapter idk.
Warnings: You may start to feel very sorry for Wales. And hate timezones.
Summary: Uh, I need to be banned from the kink meme or monsters like this happen? Essentially, Scotland leaves the UK, which gives Northern Ireland an excuse to up and out as well, which leaves England and Wales all alone.
The second half of the meeting was uneventful, on the grand scale of things, until Ireland walked in.
Generally, Ireland didn’t bother turning up to meetings. Usual business of things would mean that England would take notes, send them to his brothers, and Northern Ireland (unless he was sulking and having one of his “she isn’t my sister” days) would send them to her. This meant she could stay at home and take care of matters there, rather than waste money traveling to wherever the meeting was being held this time.
But as Northern Ireland has returned to being with her, and England wasn’t in charge any more, things had to change.
Her entrance was by no means understated. She hadn’t bothered to tie her hair up, leaving it to cascade over her shoulders in crimson curls. Her suit was formal but feminine, a dark green that brought out her eyes. Eyebrows plucked into an acceptable, non-bushy manner, one quirked in an amused way when she caught America’s eye. Northern Ireland followed behind her, looking a lot happier than he had in a while and carrying his sister’s briefcase for her.
“Well somebody’s gone the whole hog.” Called Scotland, leaning back in his chair and grinning. “Welcome back, sister.”
“Can’t say I missed it.” Ireland returned, as Èibhear grabbed another chair for her to sit on. “Sleeping in ‘til noon is a luxury I used to be able to afford. Ah well.” She shrugged, giving her brother a little smile as she settled in the chair.
“Ye lazy cow!” laughed James. Both redheads grinned at each other for a little while longer, until England entered the room with Wales.
There was a tense moment as the family stared at each other.
“… well if this is how it is now, Christmas is going to suck this year.” Muttered Northern Ireland. His sister snorted.
“If you stand there in the door for long enough, leanbh, you’ll take root, and James’ll have to caber toss you to get you out.” She smirked teasingly. England went pink and rolled his eyes, stalking over to his chair. Wales gave his sister a scolding look, to which she simply shrugged and grinned.
“You’re in a good mood today.” He commented, pausing as England continued on to his seat. The red head snorted.
“Why wouldn’t I be? This is going to be a right laugh.” She chuckled.
“Da, is already amusing.” Came a voice from the right. Russia loomed, and had Wales been less used to things popping out of nowhere he would have jumped.
“Russia!” cried Ireland happily, rising from her seat to give the giant of a nation a quick hug. “We haven’t had a good chat since 1918!”
“A great shame, we should talk more often.” He agreed, nodding amiably. Wales slowly backed away to a safer distance. He could feel England’s eyes trained on the situation.
“You an’ me need to go out on a bender. I bet I could drink you under the table.” Ireland challenged, tossing back her hair. Russia raised his eyebrows.
“I do not see why we should need to be under a table, but da, I like this idea.”
Ireland seized his hand and shook it enthusiastically. “It’s a deal then! See,” she added over her shoulder to her brother, who was staring up at the much taller Russian with terrified eyes. “Something good came out of coming already!”
Russia drifted off before Northern Ireland could perfect his Latvia impression. As soon as the giant Nation was gone however, Taiwan pounced, chattering happily away with the other female nation, with China eventually coming over to discuss something to do with trade. Wales lost interest and wandered over to England, who was watching Scotland and France discussing something.
“I bet they’re up to something.” He grumbled. Wales suppressed a sigh.
“Paranoia won’t get you anywhere. France isn’t out to get you anymore, and won’t side with James for the sole reason that you are on the other side.” He reasoned slowly, and watched England picking at a corner of a finance report distractedly.
“I’m not paranoid, I’m just aware.” the shorter Nation mumbled.
“America!” called Ireland’s voice. England’s head snapped round in time to see his former colony uncurl from his chair (why did he look like he’d been crying?) and look over at his aunt, who seemed to be striding over with purpose.
“Oh, hey Aine- ow!” he yelped as the island nation smacked him upside the head. “What was that for!”
“For not greeting me, you little brat!” scolded Ireland, irritated expression fading after only a few seconds of making America cower. She held her arms out and grinned. “Now give me a hug, stupid. It’s been what, 20 years?”
“Well you can’t tell me they’re not up to something.” Groused England, sitting hunched over in his chair.
Wales couldn’t keep back the sigh this time.
-------------
Wales was getting sick of people calling him at ungodly hours of the morning.
Rolling over in bed, he groped blindly for the phone, on his bed side table, before mumbling blearily. “No Arthur, we can’t declare war on James f’r whatever reason y’ve thought of this time.”
“Uncle Wales?”
He was also sick of guessing who was calling wrong.
“Australia, it’s three in the bloody mornin’ lad.” He groaned rolling back onto his bed and pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t like he disliked Australia. The kid was practically his son in the same way America was practically England’s. New South Wales and all.
“Sorry, sorry! I just heard about what happened with Scotland and Ireland. A certain someone forgot to tell me.” In the background, he could hear a distinctly New Zealand accented “you didn’t ask”, along with something that sounded like “not my fault your brain fried in the sun three centuries back”.
“’S only been a few days, boyo. You’re not that late.” He blinked blearily at the darkened ceiling. The street lights through the trees outside made a shadow that looked vaguely like a skeletal dragon dance on the walls. Maybe it was an omen of his impending death by sleep deprivation.
"Well good, because otherwise there'd be trouble down under as well as up top." Wales rolled his eyes at the siblings' usual bickering. Of all the things they had to inherit...
"Anything else y' want to ask me before I go back to bed?"
"Uh, yeah, is England taking it okay?" trying to sound nonchalant and offhand wasn't working when there was such concern underlying his words. "He doesn't deal with breakups well."
"He's been boozing a bit, but I've kept him from giving the whole country alcohol poisoning." or however these things worked. To be honest, two thousand years had done nothing to help the Nations really pin down what they were or which way round things went. Did Nations affect their people or people their Nations? Neither? Both? Best not to think about it. Headaches lay there. And he might summon Greece by accident with all the philosophy.
"Good." Australia paused. "And try to keep him from waging war on Scotland. I know you Europeans can't help yourselves but-" there was a teasing edge to his voice. Wales' lips twitched up into a smile.
"I'll keep him in line."
"Great. Good. Because he's not allowed to get his ass kicked or die or anything okay?" the last sentence rushed out so fast that Wales' sleep fogged mind almost didn't catch all of it. "Okay, so this call, I've just noticed, is costing me $20 a minute, so I'll call you back when I'm not about to go under. Bye!"
Wales flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ominous shadows. They'd somehow shifted into something more like a rabbit than a dragon. And with that half delirious thought in mind, he drifted back to sleep...
----------
... only to be woken up again by that blasted ringing.
It was light outside, but just barely. Lack of sleep from the night before was doing nothing to help his headache, nor was the shrill and insistent ringing of the phone he still had in his hand. Finally answering it after determining that Arthur was obviously still too hung over to do it himself, he grumbled an irritated "Kirkland residence. If this isn't some kind of call to action I'm putting down the phone right now."
"Hello sir," said a thickly accented Indian woman. "Are you interested in bank savings-"
Wales slammed down the phone, hard.
When it rang again not thirty seconds later, he was a little faster picking it up.
"What do you want?" he growled, his legendary patience beginning to wear thin.
"Holy Shiva, you can't take a joke." came the irritated and yet amused sounding voice from earlier, only with much improved accent and pronunciation. She could have been from Oxford, were it not for the way she said 'Shiva'.
"Gah... sorry, India." Wales apologised, resisting the urge to face palm or smack his head on the headboard. "Rough night."
"Yes, I can tell." she was definitely amused. "So, chaos as usual at your house, right?" Now, Wales didn't personally know India all that well; it had been mainly England running all around the world and such. But he did know when the woman was asking a loaded question. She wanted more than a simple answer.
"Scotland and Northern Ireland left the Union and England's been depressed about it ever since." so Wales gave the straight answer. "I had to stop him beating his brother to death is a flag pole the other day."
India made a disapproving click with her tongue, like a parent hearing about a misbehaving child. "Europeans, always jumping into their fights." Wales thought this statement a little unfair; India had been quite the rebellious one before she fell for Gandhi. "Hmm, maybe I should visit to make him feel better?" she laughed softly.
"Sorry to say, that'll probably depress him more, Maya." Wales pointed out. Visits from India were always fun (it meant edible food for once), but often left Arthur down when she inevitably had to return home.
She hummed sympathetically. "A man like Arthur is not happy without having someone to rule over. His ego demands it." she observed. Wales nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see him. "It is sad to see a king lose his status. But it is the way things go. He must either accept it, or fight his way back. I do not think he would so quickly chose the latter anymore."
Nor did Wales.
Notes (mostly on Ireland):
- Russia was the first country to recognise Ireland's independence from England in 1918. They're on pretty good terms.
- Taiwan and China are the 7th biggest traders with Ireland, and despite some issues over human rights, they're pretty chummy too. *pictures Taiwan and Ireland doing each others hair*
- America and Ireland are on fantastic terms, mostly due to the huge immigration from Ireland that America originally had. America's still feeling bad from Canada's rant, though, so he didn't leap up and jump on her like he did with Scotland.
- As a little note, Ireland's full name is Aine O'Brian. Northern Ireland is Èibhear Kirkland-O'Brian. Long name is looooong.
- Aine's name is pronounced "Awn-ye". Like Anya with an Irish accent. Arthur probably butchers the pronunciation no end.
Part 5