Putting the RO in romance
Oct. 20th, 2020 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoHad a brief discussion with Ama today about pairings for Hetalia Ro that work well in historical context, rather than the ubiquitous ambiguously modern fluff. Figured I might jot some things down here because otherwise I might not remember them. (I'd forget my head if it weren't screwed on.)
Turkey - the big one for Romania. Long and complex history. Not universally negative, but very very Complicated. Doesn't work for all things - you can't get a proper happy relationship out of this one, but Ama suggests, "if you're willing to write a smut fest with an unequal power balance and some "God, you're so bratty again, I need to put you in your place." and a lot of....mood [...] it would work out".
tl;dr (quoting Ama again) "while Romania was never an Ottoman territory completely and they had autonomy, Turkey had a whole lot of control over this place and a great influence. Pick what you eat. Who to rule. How you dress. How you talk. How the culture in some areas developed. For me, it always screamed like Older Man and his Young Twinky Lover. "
....Godsdamn, I would never be able to write this (not only do I not have a grasp of the area/period, I have no clue about how to write Turkey as a character) but bloody hell, I want a good fic with this to spontaneously manifest so I can read it. The way she puts it just sounds so hot. /)_(\
Greece - 18th century, Phanariot Epoch, Romania had some Greek rulers at the time and apparently things were going well enough. (Note to self, look into it more.)
This is another one that I want to spontaneously manifest, because yes, it would be hot, but how the hell does one write Greece?! Interesting to consider as a pairing, though - Greece is so spacey and philosophical, and Romania is so... not... I wonder how it would go.
Hungary - Another one I need to research more; it comes up occasionally in the fandom that things are complicated between them, but I don't actually know much about the... details... here.... I don't personally have many feelings on Hungary with Romania, because I don't have many feelings about Hungary as a character in general. But I do think it'd be really hot if she pulled his hair, so there is that.
Prussia - second half of the 19th century for this one. NGL I do think this pairing would be hilarious.
The monarchy at the time was of Prussian origin; Ama's description:
'The first King of Romania was extremely stereotypically "Prussian Military Man" coming to Romania and had a terribly hard time adjusting to the 'loose latin Morals.' "
Prussia as a character is ridiculous, Ro as a character is a weirdo with the potential to be very chaotic, and I can absolutely see Romania amusing himself with this sort of thing - flirty toward Prussia, playing up it up for a laugh, partly just to get him sputtering, but also partly in earnest because why the hell not.
---
I'm probably never going to write any of these pairings because they all involve characters that I have no grasp of. (Though maybe I could try Pru/Ro? Possibly. Eventually. If I can figure out how to write Prussia. Easier said than done.)
Mainly I'm just glad to have some ideas about possible historical context for Romania's relationships, because it's useful when writing modern fic, too. Even if the modern relationship isn't with one of the above characters. For example, when writing him with Norway - I like thinking about what kind of baggage Romania might be bringing into it, how any of his previous experiences before (various shades of complicated, difficult, not happy at all, sometimes hedonistic, not serious but at least he had fun for a while with so-and-so, etc etc take your pick) might inform the way he approaches things with Norway now.
(Also of course applies to other relationships that Ro has with similar nations that he doesn't have a long history with, example: Netherlands, but let's stick with Norway because I have RO/NO on the brain.)
As for Norway, I've pretty much figured out how I like to do the way he would see things - after several hundred years of being in union(s)/essentially married, 1905 left him feeling that even though he likes company now and then, he's had quite enough of serious relationships, thanks. And that continues to present and onward. Something occasional and low-key with Romania is exactly to his taste.
So with these two, they're looking for similar things, but for different reasons. Norway doesn't want anything long-term and serious because no, and for Romania... well, he's used to everything being kind of disorganized and messy and not too serious, including his love life, so this is nothing new at all.
Thinking about it now, for Romania, compared to his previous experiences... Norway's understated way of expressing affection, the koselig undercurrent of "I like you very much, and I want to make you feel comfortable and happy" - that would be QUITE A CONTRAST to some other stuff Ro's been through, lol. (Comparison, see also: Cold War stuff with Hungary, "You kind of suck, but not as much as Russia, let's get wasted and bang".)
(As an aside, Ama briefly suggested that re: Turkey/Romania in historical context, one could incorporate sugar daddy overtones. Which, LOL at the phrasing. However: it also gets me thinking. Because taking that, and applying it to other things - I'm thinking of that fic I wrote with Romania and Norway, the one with the booty call. There was this implication that Norway always pays for everything... I was hinting at that kind of relationship there, or at least that Norway's actions could be taken as having something of that kind of intent behind them, and that this possibility had something to do with Romania's uncertainty about how to interpret Norway. So that, in light of Ama's description of the previous relationship... "this could be a thing he recognizes from before, but the context and feelings and intentions are different" - it could bring up some complicated feelings for Romania, and I find that interesting.)
Argh, man, I just... wish there were more nationverse stuff out there with Romania. Not even historical, just - stuff that takes his context into account, because that's what makes Hetalia pairings interesting to me. He was introduced into the canon so late that there really isn't a lot out there that fits what I want. And until it becomes possible to spontaneously generate good fic based on vague prompts, well... it's a sad state of affairs. :V
Turkey - the big one for Romania. Long and complex history. Not universally negative, but very very Complicated. Doesn't work for all things - you can't get a proper happy relationship out of this one, but Ama suggests, "if you're willing to write a smut fest with an unequal power balance and some "God, you're so bratty again, I need to put you in your place." and a lot of....mood [...] it would work out".
tl;dr (quoting Ama again) "while Romania was never an Ottoman territory completely and they had autonomy, Turkey had a whole lot of control over this place and a great influence. Pick what you eat. Who to rule. How you dress. How you talk. How the culture in some areas developed. For me, it always screamed like Older Man and his Young Twinky Lover. "
....Godsdamn, I would never be able to write this (not only do I not have a grasp of the area/period, I have no clue about how to write Turkey as a character) but bloody hell, I want a good fic with this to spontaneously manifest so I can read it. The way she puts it just sounds so hot. /)_(\
Greece - 18th century, Phanariot Epoch, Romania had some Greek rulers at the time and apparently things were going well enough. (Note to self, look into it more.)
This is another one that I want to spontaneously manifest, because yes, it would be hot, but how the hell does one write Greece?! Interesting to consider as a pairing, though - Greece is so spacey and philosophical, and Romania is so... not... I wonder how it would go.
Hungary - Another one I need to research more; it comes up occasionally in the fandom that things are complicated between them, but I don't actually know much about the... details... here.... I don't personally have many feelings on Hungary with Romania, because I don't have many feelings about Hungary as a character in general. But I do think it'd be really hot if she pulled his hair, so there is that.
Prussia - second half of the 19th century for this one. NGL I do think this pairing would be hilarious.
The monarchy at the time was of Prussian origin; Ama's description:
'The first King of Romania was extremely stereotypically "Prussian Military Man" coming to Romania and had a terribly hard time adjusting to the 'loose latin Morals.' "
Prussia as a character is ridiculous, Ro as a character is a weirdo with the potential to be very chaotic, and I can absolutely see Romania amusing himself with this sort of thing - flirty toward Prussia, playing up it up for a laugh, partly just to get him sputtering, but also partly in earnest because why the hell not.
---
I'm probably never going to write any of these pairings because they all involve characters that I have no grasp of. (Though maybe I could try Pru/Ro? Possibly. Eventually. If I can figure out how to write Prussia. Easier said than done.)
Mainly I'm just glad to have some ideas about possible historical context for Romania's relationships, because it's useful when writing modern fic, too. Even if the modern relationship isn't with one of the above characters. For example, when writing him with Norway - I like thinking about what kind of baggage Romania might be bringing into it, how any of his previous experiences before (various shades of complicated, difficult, not happy at all, sometimes hedonistic, not serious but at least he had fun for a while with so-and-so, etc etc take your pick) might inform the way he approaches things with Norway now.
(Also of course applies to other relationships that Ro has with similar nations that he doesn't have a long history with, example: Netherlands, but let's stick with Norway because I have RO/NO on the brain.)
As for Norway, I've pretty much figured out how I like to do the way he would see things - after several hundred years of being in union(s)/essentially married, 1905 left him feeling that even though he likes company now and then, he's had quite enough of serious relationships, thanks. And that continues to present and onward. Something occasional and low-key with Romania is exactly to his taste.
So with these two, they're looking for similar things, but for different reasons. Norway doesn't want anything long-term and serious because no, and for Romania... well, he's used to everything being kind of disorganized and messy and not too serious, including his love life, so this is nothing new at all.
Thinking about it now, for Romania, compared to his previous experiences... Norway's understated way of expressing affection, the koselig undercurrent of "I like you very much, and I want to make you feel comfortable and happy" - that would be QUITE A CONTRAST to some other stuff Ro's been through, lol. (Comparison, see also: Cold War stuff with Hungary, "You kind of suck, but not as much as Russia, let's get wasted and bang".)
(As an aside, Ama briefly suggested that re: Turkey/Romania in historical context, one could incorporate sugar daddy overtones. Which, LOL at the phrasing. However: it also gets me thinking. Because taking that, and applying it to other things - I'm thinking of that fic I wrote with Romania and Norway, the one with the booty call. There was this implication that Norway always pays for everything... I was hinting at that kind of relationship there, or at least that Norway's actions could be taken as having something of that kind of intent behind them, and that this possibility had something to do with Romania's uncertainty about how to interpret Norway. So that, in light of Ama's description of the previous relationship... "this could be a thing he recognizes from before, but the context and feelings and intentions are different" - it could bring up some complicated feelings for Romania, and I find that interesting.)
Argh, man, I just... wish there were more nationverse stuff out there with Romania. Not even historical, just - stuff that takes his context into account, because that's what makes Hetalia pairings interesting to me. He was introduced into the canon so late that there really isn't a lot out there that fits what I want. And until it becomes possible to spontaneously generate good fic based on vague prompts, well... it's a sad state of affairs. :V
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-21 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-21 10:28 pm (UTC)Though considering the fandom, doing the research and then trying to write something myself would probably be a better use of my time.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-22 05:59 am (UTC)There's definitely some points here that I want to see if I can incorporate into the still-in-development Hetalia/Fate Zero crossover behemoth for which I have copious notes, because Romania's one of the key players and he has to be something of a cipher while still having understandable motives. Interestingly, the scene I've drafted for him so far involves him and Belarus, where Romania's apparently nonchalant attitude gets on her nerves. (She's taking their bad situation seriously; why is he treating it like a joke? Whereas he treats it like a joke because it's the same as always, they're just getting bossed around again, so you push the envelope a bit and take what you can get -- and above all don't let it bother you because you won't survive long if you do.)
no subject
Date: 2020-10-22 01:13 pm (UTC)That sounds so very very Romania. :D
Good luck with your project!