Do you think there was ever a point where Francis realize he didn't love Matthew the way a Father should?

i personally feel like he might've realised it quite soon, even when Matt is pretty young. however, it's the situation where somebody knows they're not treating someone as they deserve, but there's still a gap between that realisation and actually working on yourself hard enough to change and doing something to fix that. francis and matthew, as i see it, exist in the similar context of maría (mexico) and antonio (as well as alfred and arthur): a colony is a prize to show off for their ambition, and i feel like he and arthur felt maría was more impressive than matthew (or alfred back then).

and in many ways...this kind of dysfunctional dynamic isn't just because they're not human: human families where a parent regards a child as an extension of their own pride and something to show off do exist too no? a child with a powerful father who is distant? in any case, francis is no less an empire than arthur or antonio in that regard, even if the precise specifics of french imperialism in the americas had differences. while i think he is not necessarily overtly cruel to Matt the way some parents will say actually hurtful shit to a kid's face, but my guess is that he could be hurtful in his lack of attention and sense of disinterest, or the way he might pay attention to Matt when he sees him in person, and say 'i'll write to you' but then...he doesn't.

and like, not to excuse Francis in anyway, but i feel he, Arthur and Antonio just have an inherently dysfunctional baseline of what a 'normal' childhood looks like because they themselves are children of the medieval era. Baptised in the Europe that was born after fall of the (Western) Roman Empire, in the wars, conflicts and changes wrought—and being preoccupied with also chasing Rome's shadow and fancying themselves maritime empires more than any sort of healthy concept of being present and around a child for the child's own sake. i can perhaps see more...honest and revealing conversations about this when Matt is much older and able to vocalise it, but it's never neat and easy.

I don't think you've ever gone into much detail on the relationships between Alfred and Zee/Jack. Does he care about them or is it more like an an adult sibling in their 30s suddenly having siblings that are in their teens? Nothing in common and generally don't really speak to each other or feel like they're really related at all. Just some other people that his father calls his children that he couldn't care less about?

It's really not very sibling but it's kind of distantly familial. But mostly they interact as friends. Zee has been very sceptical about Alfred pretty much from the get-go. She met him probably in the early Victorian Era and Alfred interpreted her clinging to Uncle Rhys as shyness, but she was low-key cranky and not having it. It's not that she doesn't like him, because she does. Alfred's impossible not to like especially when he's being genuine. But she's not sure she trusts him. He's ambitious and cunning in that bible salesman kind of way.

But he also has had some moments where he recognizes how Europe rejects both of them for being very obviously on the edge of European hegemony. They might ride a lot of human context of whiteness but empire is a very fucked up cosmopolitan thing so "neither you nor I are entirely European. We're western states but never going to completely European and there will always be a barrier there. Don't bother with them, I've already tried and pushed our limits." made for some surprising commonality with them. He's also had his head in her lap hallucinating and begging for Matt, death or Dad when he was low-key dying of malaria or dengue in the South Pacific. She also, perhaps ironically given their power differences, has given him the biggest fuck you anyone ever has by banning his ships from her ports while not only not escaping punished but still entirely benefiting from the American security apparatus. He saves the majority of his emotional attachment for Matt but they can have a beer and go surfing without major incident. He certainly trusts her more than she trusts him but like it's just more solid than intimate.

Jack's relationship with Alfred is both more and less fraught. Mostly because of gender. Zee has it harder in a lot of ways being afab and feminine presenting most of the time but that's also made her less concerned about masculinity. Especially the sword clashing virility-as-nationalism they came of age in. The stolid, stoic, takes-his-lashes-silently ideal of British manhood that Jack does not suit. He looks at Arthur and he looks at Matt and he doesn't want to be them. His father's rage, Matthew's senseless martyrdom. He wants that respect, the warriors right to respect as it is. But he looks across the Pacific in the late 19th century and early 20th and Alfred is bright, forward-looking friendly and progressive. He has a navy. He has respect. He has a battle scars waged in the name of glamorous things like freedom and democracy and equality. That's an example of masculinity he likes. Alfred standing on the flag ship's prow, at the head of the Great White Fleet announcing him as the next great power kind of beat Jack over the head with a 'oh I'm a baby I need to grow up and get a navy and be a man and earn respect.' And he does pursue those goals and something of Alfred's version of great power projection. But its also not long before Alfred scares the shit out of him too. The costs of his father' ambitions have always been visible but when Alfred's are revealed to Jack they're shocking and frightening. He doesn't want to be his father and he doesn't want to be Alfred. But sometimes, the blunt imperialism of his father is a little easier to handle than the way Alfred operates as an empire of militant idealism. So while he and Alfred appear to get along very well on the surface, and work together very well while they're at it, there's very fundamental differences to who they are and that keeps them friends, not family.

how is an Alfred in love? what type of love language did he developed in his relationships or his idea of what love should look like? I have seen almost every kind of characterisation (innocent, flirty, shy, confident, devoted, straight up toxic) so I'm feeling like asking an expert here

I think of Alfred in love as an arc of all of these above. In the 18th century, when he and Maria got close, he was shy and innocent, and she had to make all the first moves. He was thrilled to hear her opinions on the enlightenment and to discuss things they’d read and could discuss. I think it was the first time he had an equal and kindred spirit in his life, and it showed how hesitant he was to initiate anything. Contrary to popular belief, Puritans did love to fuck; it was just supposed to be within the bounds of marriage, so when she finally did kiss him, I think he justified it in that he couldn’t marry like a human; the closest thing is that geography can’t really be changed. It’s permanent. And for the rest of his life, a piece of his heart will belong to her and no one else. He fucked her over; they have some serious ups and downs. Some nights, however, Alfred still is the young firebrand that was still being forged on a gentler fire who meant the oaths he spoke. She’s the incredibly intelligent, poised young woman who outranked him and, much to her later chagrin, believed him. There’s, to this day, a particular devotion there, I think, that only she really has access to. He adjusts to fluctuations in his relationships better than Matt because of that. She was his first, and if the world came crashing down tomorrow, she’d be his last if he had any say in it.

The American Revolution and the Barbary Wars pushed him from the positive and boldly flirtatious young rake in training, which immediately lost his nerve as soon as clothes started coming off. French support is what won the Americans their war. Francis’ tutelage is what made Alfred’s ass a national asset. Not entirely sure if I headcanon congress pimped Alfred out for that Dutch, Spanish and French support, but Francis certainly taught him some shit regardless. He’s tall, beautiful and intelligent, and he needed any advantage he could leverage. And he definitely got pegged as a part of the tribute to the Barbary State, which was a whopping 10% of the national budget in the Republic’s early years. He learned to walk the walk and talk the talk. He practiced how to seduce and please, and he had so much natural confidence it didn’t fuck with his sense of self-worth or masculinity.

From there on out, you get an Alfred who is highly affectionate and hands-off with most of his lovers. He has no shortage of attention, and he’s a hoe, he he flits like a bee from plant to plant to plant, pollinating the hell out of the planet. Some people do mean more than others. While most of it is casual, he does have extremely strong feelings and genuine affection for some of them. And those people get an Alfred whose enthusiasm isn’t pure joy and interest but a little vulnerable because he’s trusting them. He can chat anyone up and fuck them, but real intimacy in the form of sharing things he enjoys or participating in what they want is a little rare and very cherished.

Alfred’s genuine love is the same as his usual self, just… quieter. Alfred is always generous and gregarious and cheerful, and usually, he makes a fucking show out of it. Alfred typically is ’Look what I did! Look how great I am!’ Alfred in genuine love is… Well, the Alfred who lost his virginity to Mari after debating Locke is the same one who almost burns the shit out of his hands trying to make a lasagne Romano will eat. He panicked because he thought he’d let the timer go too early. This is also the Alfred who gets up early and fills Tolys fridge and pantry before he goes home while Tolys is still asleep because it’s 1990-something and the old SSRs are basically post-apocalyptic. This is the Alfred who is genuinely almost nutting himself when Ludwig thinks his rockets are as cool as he does. This is the Alfred who sees the sakura blossoms in DC and will text Kiku random hearts and exclamation points with a surprisingly well-lit and composed photo full of pink flowers. His love language is… well fuck, what isn’t Alfred’s love language? It’s flexible, warm, and full of heart when he’s in the mood to be.

i’d never even considered how the civil war would affect alfred during ww1, that’s a really interesting idea. would you mind expanding a bit more if you haven’t already?

fuck yes I can expand on that. TW for historic nastiness.

Okay to prelude— I don't typically do 1:1 state/gov to character but considering the cession of the south into a separate state and the US itself is the Union, my boy is in blue. In this blog's universe there is no schizophrenia or split personality or Doppelgänger or any other representation of the south. It gutted him and he lost feeling in a lot of his usual area and it severely weakened him but he represented the United States and that means union blue. And considering the north really doesn't have all that much moral leverage on the south especially in matters of racism, it's not much of a jump. If you aren't crazy about that, look away now.

So. Trench warfare. It's as old as humans bashing each other's heads in. Defensive ditches are an archaeological feature across the applicable world. But it's the American Civil War that might hold the gold medal for largest gap between how technology designed to kill had advanced spectacularly over any innovation that might save lives. I won't say deadliest because you do have the Taiping Rebellion around the same time but a lot of that was sièges and counter sieges and river based naval engagements. But anyway— rifled artillery and direct fire techniques had changed the game and soldiers were driven underground behind parapets and sandbags. Around Petersburg especially. And it's towards the end of the war when the Confederacy is increasingly desperate and hand to hand fighting is getting more common and more brutal. Entire regiments were lost in hand to hand mêlée. And if a soldier didn't die instantly, it was off to a field hospital. Guts ripped open by iron shells, lungs hanging from the tips of bayonets, wounds so infected they glowed, limbs hacked off by a surgeon who hadn't washed his hands in six days and sepsis rot so foul someone can taste it on the air even with the mouth closed. Malaria and typhoid so fucking bad the army cots would literally shake apart from how bad men shivered when the chills aspect of the fever cycle hit. I know it's fashionable right now especially on vintage fashion YouTube to say people in history weren't disgusting but like, I've been in archives for years. Yeah it fucken was. Never was medicine so far behind the ability to kill.

So Alfred's probably died a solid dozen times half of which from shitting himself because he's probably riddled with parasites. He's been shot, stabbed, slashed. Shaken, rattled and absolutely steam rolled. And the final part of his almighty trauma is this is happening just up the river from where he was born in Jamestown. Alfred is on his belly in the earth beneath the feet of the people that bore him and then rejected him, begging his Protestant God and any of his own people listening and the very earth itself to protect him, to keep him alive as shell after shell lands around him.

When every battle is over, the dead rot in piles across the fields and trenches. The famous photos of the Antietam and Gettysburg dead are days old, you can see some of the bodies had been looted. There were so many dead and so many dying that upon its tardy entrance into world war one, the US had a more coherent body management and disposal program than any other of the entente powers. Who had already been at war for nearly four years.

So yeah, in my opinion he got ten steps into a front line trench where the British and especially the French were just causally walking on bodies, he vomited so hard New York felt California rattling around in there and said fuck it. My boy was either off to cleaner pastures like Belleau Wood or the air corps. It was too much too soon and he just couldn't keep it together in those conditions. They knew what bacteria were by WW1 and he was a burgeoning world power. So he probably only went full himbo with dysentery twice in France so it wasn't as bad as his civil war flop era but oof. That smell, the screams, pressing himself into soil that is not his own yet again is too recent and too vulnerable. He can't do it again so soon.

STOP IT…. STAWPIT…. YOUR TAGS ABOUT AMERICA BEING SCOT’S + IRE’S BABY HAS ME CHOKING ON TEARS 😭😭😭😭☹️☹️☹️☹️😭☹️😢☹️😭☹️😭😣😣☹️😣😭😣☹️ He is such a good boy… he loves them so much and never lets them forget it 💔💔💔

Alfred's that guy who's a dick to everyone except his mom, except in this case his "mom" is actually his aunt Ireland and uncle Scotland.

Random silly question but do you think nations can highlight/ and dye their hair or will it go back to their usual magically?

Well, I should have answered that about six months ago, but yes, I do.