1936: Spanish Civil War [New Zealand, Spain]

[New Zealand]

Madrid, November 1936.

Will had never seen so many civilians in one place before, and he was sure all of his people could fit into Madrid many times over. Everywhere he looked was full of people, and for a moment he longed for the peace and quiet of his home in the country. Just him, his pet sheep, the house, and the sound of his neighbours's flocks on the wind. Instead his ears were filled with the sound of vehicles, people talking, the odd bit of singing, and the occasional noise from household pets. It was almost too much for him, but he knew he couldn't leave. He was in Madrid for a reason.

He continued to walk down the street, and looked for the street Antonio lived on. Some of his people had volunteered to take part in the civil war taking place in this country. He was partly concerned for their safety, and he partly wanted to join in the fight beside his people. He figured Antonio would know where someone like him might be able to help out with this war. Civil war was nothing new to Will since his people had fought among themselves on-and-off while he was growing up, and later his people fought against England's armies. England's armies eventually won in the 1860s and the civil wars ended.

The only other thing that mildly concerned him was that he was here in Spain without his boss's permission. His boss had decided to follow Arthur's boss's lead and remain neutral, but some of his people wanted to support different sides in this war and Will couldn't let them go into war without any support at all, so here he was. He wasn't entirely sure what he could do short of either grabbing a weapon and fighting beside them, or working with whatever diplomatic presence New Zealand had in Spain to help. It'd probably be the British High Commission or something which means if he showed up there it'd get back to Arthur, and he'd be in for an earful that'd be hard to ignore. Maybe helping on the diplomatic side wouldn't be such a good idea.

He crossed another street, and took a good look at the street name. It wasn't the one he wanted, and he looked at the map he'd been given again. Antonio's street should've been somewhere in this area according to the map, and he kept walking. He kept looking at all the different street signs, and finally found the right street! He walked down the street, and stopped in front of what he believed was the right house. He walked up to the front door and knocked. He hoped Antonio would be home today, and that he'd found the right house.

[Spain]

Twisting the cup in his hands, Antonio Fernández Carriedo scrubbed the coffee stains off as he softly hummed, taking his time to rinse the soap suds off before placing it on the rack. It had been a while since he had been home so it had been challenging for the Spaniard to try to straight out his home. Most of it was in shambles, the living room looked wrecked while the dining area was nothing less of a disaster area. The past few months had comprised of him coming home late, tossing his belongings any which way and laying down wherever he could find space. It had taken him a few hours to straighten out the clothes that he had tossed around, picked up the random memos left laying around and straighten out the furniture flipped around when he was frustrated. That is, if he ever made it home even because most of the time he had been touring with the division that he had been attached to and witnessing the turmoil first hand.

With that of course, meant that he had to clean dirty dishes when he came back. Lots of dirty dishes.

Despite the weariness and the fatigue that he could feel latching onto him, growing heavy as the day worn on, Antonio continued to sort through certain rooms slowly, hoping to be able to salvage the former appearance of his place. Granted, with the bombs blasting and the number of people who had run through it, he was pretty certain that he would most likely find himself straightening things again next week. There mere thought of it caused Antonio to sigh, he could not ignore the fact that his pantry had been growing dangerously low and that his wallet had been growing thinner. The aid that he had received from Germany was sufficient to keep the army going, but it begged the question of how long how much longer it would last? There had been a number of countries that had expressed concern such as Germany, Italy and even Portugal, who had wanted nothing to do with him for a major part of their history together. However, it was the pleasant surprises, such as Ireland and Russia (yes, even that creepy country), moved Antonio's heart very deeply.

Surely what had originally started out as a battle of passions and ideology had now turned into a mere battle of attrition, regardless of what the propaganda wanted to call it.

“One more to go~” he sang as he placed the plate on the rack, dried his hands with a random dish cloth and tossed it. Sighing happily, he took off the apron that he had absent-mindlessly put on as he entered into the kitchen, having not even picked up a pan to use to cook anything. Hanging it up, he left the kitchen and flopped onto the couch, lazily staring at the ceiling as the ticking of the grandfather clock next to him continued faithfully. Far off in the distance, he could hear the gunfire that rang, the angry cries of dying men filling his ears. Though he was not on duty officially today, he was very much still present at the field, suffering next to his countrymen – on both sides – as they fought. “Dios...” he muttered as he covered his eyes with his right forearm, “¿Por qué?”

Just then, he heard a knock, albeit soft, but enough to cut through the silence to announce the source's presence to the Spaniard. Perking up, Antonio swung his legs over the couch and looked with curiosity. Who could it be at this time? Was he expecting a guest? Walking over to the door, the Spaniard peeked through the hole and saw a boy of a pale complexion. “Eh?” he said to himself as confusion replaced the curiosity. Then deciding that it was rude not to open the door, especially if he was a bearer of important information, Antonio opened the door fully and looked at the youth who stood at his doorstep.

“¡Hola!” he greeted cheerfully despite the fact that he was a bit tired, “Can I help you?”

---

Note:
- Dios... ¿Por qué ?: God, why?
- I'm going on the presumption that Antonio, being Antonio doesn't really remember New Zealand (because he's a British colony and all that), but he'll remember, I promise!
- Please let me know if there is anything that needs to be changed.

[New Zealand]

Antonio didn't seem to remember who he was, but that was understandable considering Will was still part of the British Empire, and Arthur had only been letting Will interact with other nations without him being involved for about 30 years. He'd been a nation for 100 years yet Arthur still treated him like a kid in some ways which annoyed him a little. Just because he looks all of fifteen or thereabouts...

"Hi Antonio, I'm sorry to bother you like this." For some reason Will felt nervous about this, but he chose to come here and help his people so he shouldn't be nervous! "I'm William, one of Arthur's family. Most people call me Will, and I think Arthur's the only one who still calls me William. Some of my people came over here to join in the civil war without my boss's support so I came over here to help them in any way I can."

Will looked past Antonio and saw that his house had been messed up by all the fighting. He also noticed that Antonio himself didn't look so good. He knew civil wars took a toll on a nation since he'd lived through a lot of them himself, and he knew this one was worse than any he'd experienced because the technology was more deadly than muskets, rockets and cannons. He quickly decided that Antonio might need more help than the people he followed from New Zealand to Spain right now.

The sound of fighting was getting closer too, and he didn't really want them to get caught up in it out on the street. He knew they could probably handle being shot at, but humans tended to freak out when something that seemed like a potential kill shot failed to find its mark. They always seemed to panic when he stood up to keep fighting after being shot and then take even more damage.

"Do you want a hand fixing up your house?" Will said. Sometimes having your home looking the way it was before the civil war happened can help you cope with it. Knowing he didn't have to worry about his home used to help him back when his people were either fighting each other or fighting England's soldiers.

He hoped Antonio would accept his offer of help as it looked like he could do with some. Every little bit helps even if it's just straightening out furniture or clearing away broken things.

He also hoped Antonio wouldn't just direct him to whatever embassy or consulate Arthur had in this country. He didn't want to be told off by Arthur for being somewhere other than his home, and then be told off by his bosses for following his people to war without permission.

---

* Will used human names to explain things since the street is public. Who knows who might be listening. >_>

[Spain]

Though Antonio was not quite sure why there was an adolescent standing at his door (most countries that visit him nowadays are more grown up looking or something like that), especially one that was so fair when most children here had a darker complexion. However, he pushed those thoughts away quickly before he could make much of it, after all, it was a nice change from the norm given how it has been lately. Plus, there was only so much propaganda speech, people trying to persuade him to take their side, and back-stabbing that he could take – and with a couple of general exceptions, children were generally more honest about their thoughts and feelings than the adults. And less inclined to try to take advantage of his pretty sad and pathetic state (and willingness to pay over-inflated prices for weapons).

However, it did not take long for something to click in his mind as the youth introduced himself as a colony under British control Oh, that would make a lot of sense, he thought to himself. He could imagine that Arthur would try to keep close tabs on the affairs of his charges to ensure that nothing too crazy (or dangerous) would happen to them. Though considering the fact that this country happened to be standing in front of him right now, perhaps the older nation was losing his touch or perhaps even learning to let go, though something told Antonio that it would hardly be due to the latter.

Some yelling in the distance suddenly caused pulled Antonio back to the moment as he looked up, alert olive green eyes searching for signs of conflict. Running a hand through his hair, he took a look at William and placed his arm around his shoulder. “No, you’re my guest, so I can’t make you clean my house! But how about this, let’s go inside first and then we’ll talk things through. It’s not exactly the safest for you to just stand out there!” With that, he began steering William through the door before turning to quickly close it and lock it. It would be one thing to willingly invite the chaos indoors, but it would be another to have people turn his house inside out, especially when he had company over.

“Well, welcome to my place! This… is my house~ Um, excuse the mess! It’s just been so chaotic with the bombs and chaos going on the streets, you never know when something will fall or something!” he explained as he led William through the tall hallway through the middle of his house. The place was not like the other place he had in the Middle Ages, but it was pretty spacious in itself and not as conspicuous. At the same time, the interior was almost as lavish with its antiques, reminders of his past adventures. After a couple of turns, he sat the youth down and smiled. “Let me get some coffee made for both of us,” he said.

With that, the Spaniard disappeared for a while, only to return with two cups of coffee. After handing a cup to William, he sat down, wafted the coffee and then proceeded to drink it. After deeming the drink good, he looked at the youth again, with a smile on his face. “So you have men fighting in this war too? Wow, I'm impressed because that's a long ways away! I'll admit, there's so many people here, it's been kind of hard to keep track of all of them- oh, what brings you here, by the way?” he asked vaguely, hoping that William would open up and start talking on his own. He had travelled around the world before, though had not really received many visitors from that part of the world and subsequently at a loss with what this conversation would be about exactly.

---

- Haha good call, I was too focused on other things to realize that it would be a problem that someone would hear. <3
- I'm going to have Antonio kind of decline letting Will clean his house, but you can... work your boysih charms on him or something. ... not in that way, of course.

[New Zealand]

Will followed Antonio through the house, and eventually they ended up in the living room. Antonio got him to sit on the couch, then disappeared and reappeared with coffee for both of them.

"Thank you." Will drank the coffee and it was good! Better than the coffee they had back home. "This is really good coffee!"

He listened to Antonio's questions and thought about how to explain why he was here for a few seconds as he drank his coffee.

"Firstly, Arthur doesn't know I'm here or at least I hope he doesn't. He'd probably give me an earful on why civil wars are dangerous and tell me that I shouldn't be anywhere near them. Then tell me to go home." Will leaned back into the couch. "He's a really good guardian and he means well, but sometimes I wonder if he thinks I'm still the little kid he claimed a century ago."

Will finished his coffee, and put the cup down on the coffee table. He hoped that Antonio didn't get the wrong idea about Arthur from that. He was actually a really good guardian aside from his questionable cooking skills, but he still treated Will like a kid at times. Will didn't like that when he was younger, and still didn't like it now.

"Secondly, my boss knows I was planning to come here but his official line is to stay neutral like Arthur's boss. They're not supporting the people who came here to fight, but I want to. I know what it's like to be fighting somewhere that's far from home even with full support from your Government and people, and that's hard enough. Me being here at least gives my people who have come here to fight someone in their corner whether they're aware of my presence or not."

Will looked down for a moment, and then looked up at Antonio again. He hoped he wouldn't be told to go home or at least not straight away, and wondered if he should've lied about whether his boss approved of him being here or not. He quickly decided being honest about it was better since he usually found lying about things tended to make them worse later on.

"I don't know how long I'll get to be over here before someone realises I'm here and sends me back home, but I'd like to stay for a bit and help out in any way I can. Also, I was serious when I offered to give you a hand with the house! Knowing your home's okay can help when everything else in your life is chaotic."

[Spain]

The comment caught Antonio off guard, he had not quite expected for the youth to be so observant. Granted, with the way he's been looking lately, he supposed that there was not too much surprise, though he still appreciated the thoughtfulness. Though his attitude may have been jaded over the last few months, the Spaniard was not too battle-worn to recognize that. In fact, it was pretty easy for the Spaniard to forget how much younger William was in comparison to himself, that is, in terms of international recognition.

But that could be something blamed upon Arthur's overprotection.

Antonio could swear that the British kept a tight hold over anything and everything that they could get their hands on, something that even a reputation for being the world's greatest administrators could not justify. After all, the protectorates had to have done well by themselves before any of the imperial powers had come along and their contribution to the colonies were not as much as to babysit as oppose to teach them how to live in a way that was good for their soul. Or something like that!

"I'm glad that you like it," Antonio beamed with happiness (and he'll admit a bit in relief) that the guest enjoyed the beverage. Regardless of whatever complicated international relation discussion they were having, nothing pleased Antonio more than to receive compliments on his coffee making skills. After all, he had been working at a shop lately to help make ends meet and find some way to feed his people. And though those from South American had left his home in the last century, there were a few things that he could still claim to possess in spite of it all.

But now was not the time to be thinking about things like that, though it was hard for Antonio to not be so easily distracted.

Setting his own cup down on the table, he turned and looked at the youth, albeit intensely. Despite how early of an age he was when he first started to participate on the battlefield, he was always reluctant to let countries that were not of age to dive into a war (it was not just a Romano thing). He could see that the decision was clearly made in William's eyes; it was the clear, sharp stare that told the Antonio that whatever convincing argument was prepared, he might as well just go along with his decision. After all, it was fair enough that the youth was concerned about his people, what kind of a country would he be if he had no compassion for his people?

Leaning back to rest against the arm of his couch, he finally sighed, smiled and shrugged, "Anyway, you won't have to worry about this getting out to Arthur. Been too busy to give him a ring, you know? Say, you're gonna be here a few days, yeah? Where are you staying at, by the way?" Though the answer seemed obvious, Antonio was genuinely curious as to where Will was and perhaps a little concerned about the youth's safety. Given the recent loss of civil order in the city, the streets had not been kind to anyone, especially anyone who looked a little out of place.

---

Notes:
- Sorry for the late reply! I feel horrible for leaving you such a long post, considering the fact that they are dialoging... and so yeah. But I hope it's okay? Thank you for being patient.
- I hope this doesn't bore you.
- Kick me if you need me to correct or clarify something. <3

[New Zealand]

Will could see Antonio staring at him, and wondered why. Was there something on his face? Or was it something else? Then he noticed him relax, and what he said next filled Will with relief.

"Anyway, you won't have to worry about this getting out to Arthur. Been too busy to give him a ring, you know? Say, you're gonna be here a few days, yeah? Where are you staying at, by the way?"

He wasn't going to rat him out to Arthur! It wasn't so much the ratting out that bothered Will, but the lectures that would come afterwards. His big brother/foster parent was awfully good at lecturing nations in his care when they were doing things wrong in his opinion.

"Yeah, I'll be in Madrid until I can find out where my people are going or there's nothing more I can do in the city to help out. I found a boarding house yesterday that seems to have mostly survived the fighting so I'm staying there."

Will looked around Antonio's living room again, and his fingers fair itched to help tidy up and get things back to the way Antonio liked them. He didn't know a lot about the Spanish nation aside from the odd thing he heard from Arthur and what he'd seen of him at League of Nations meetings, but he liked the impression he'd gotten of him from those meetings.

"Are you quite sure you don't need a hand with the house?" Will said. "Sorry if offering to help out like this seems a bit forward since I've only seen you at League of Nations meetings before now, and I don't think we really got a chance to talk there. I do know, however, that a bit of help goes a long way during civil wars. It certainly did during mine."

If there was one thing living with England seemed to drum into him it was some sort of desire to help other people, or maybe it was a nation thing that he hadn't known about until he really started growing up and was able to do more. He really didn't know which it was. It wasn't a bad thing, and his people always seemed to love having an extra pair of hands around for planting and harvesting crops as well as birthing, shearing (in the case of sheep), and taking care of farm animals. Will had a farm of his own when he was younger, and he and his neighbours had all helped each other with their crops and/or animals.

He hoped that Antonio would allow him to help out. If it had been Alex he would've stepped in straight away since Alex wouldn't ask for help even if it was needed, and frankly nor would Will. Funny how that desire to help people worked.

---

* Sorry I took so long with this post! D:
* I swapped to my secondary colour for readability as it shows up much better on this darker skin than my primary one does.

[Spain]

Antonio smiled at Will because he was young and cute, and now that he thought about it, possessed this youthful energy that caused him to adopt all those colonies when he was sailing the world. No doubt, if he had ever came upon him during the old days, there was a fair chance that Will would be called "David" and speak Spanish. After all, a churro munching, sheep-loving colony wouldn't be so bad (and a whole lot easier to deal with than S. Italy).

But right now was not the time to be thinking about things like this.

"Yeah, I'll be in Madrid until I can find out where my people are going or there's nothing more I can do in the city to help out. I found a boarding house yesterday that seems to have mostly survived the fighting so I'm staying there."

"Eh?" Antonio responded as he tilted his head at him, a slight frown on his face, "you know, you could have asked to stay at my place, it would have been a lot easier than what you are doing! Besides, you never know what could happen the next day." Antonio left it at that because though he sounded concerned about the sturdiness of the building, it was not as if he had the right to worry about other places. After all, his home was right in the city and was just as vulnerable as any other place. However, there was a comfort in knowing that if anything happened, he would happen to be right there. After all, the last thing he would really want is an angry Brit coming after him or something.

"Are you quite sure you don't need a hand with the house? Sorry if offering to help out like this seems a bit forward since I've only seen you at League of Nations meetings before now, and I don't think we really got a chance to talk there. I do know, however, that a bit of help goes a long way during civil wars. It certainly did during mine."

Antonio merely laughed at the insistence and patted him on the shoulder, "It is very nice of you to offer, you're not gonna take no for an answer, are ya?" Then finally relenting, he walked over to the bookcase, jolted from the shock of bombs going off outside and surrounded by fallen books and a couple broken figurines. Clumsily stepping around the pieces and sorting through a few of the books, he looked over at Will and beckoned him over with the shake of his head.

"You can help out with this," he said as he held out the books at him, "I usually kind of sort them by topic so if you wanna do that! I'll go... get a broom or something." Then with that, the Spaniard disappeared for a moment to get a broom.

---

Notes:
- I just came up with a couple ideas that this thread could go... something that would involve more than just cleaning.
- Ack, you're late, I'm pretty bad too. This won't happen again.

[New Zealand]

"Eh?" Antonio responded as he tilted his head at him, a slight frown on his face, "you know, you could have asked to stay at my place, it would have been a lot easier than what you are doing! Besides, you never know what could happen the next day."

"Really? I wasn't sure and didn't want to trouble you further." Will said, and wanted to headdesk on the inside the moment that sentence left his lips. Gawd, how silly did he sound? He knew he was inexperienced when it came to dealing with other nations, but still! And to top it all off, he was probably blushing as well. Oh well, he was probably being too hard on himself. He'd only been dealing with other nations by himself for about 30 years, and even then it was mostly ones within the Empire so he knew them already. This was uncharted territory for him, and he was doing his best.

"It is very nice of you to offer, you're not gonna take no for an answer, are ya?" Will followed Antonio over to the bookcase, and was careful to dodge any debris that was lying in his path. He was going to let him help, and it didn't take as long as it would if he was trying to get Arthur to do the same thing! Then again, it seemed like Arthur wouldn't accept offered help even if he was half dead sometimes. At least Antonio was more sensible about these things, and Will didn't have to start arguing with him over it like he would with Arthur and vice versa.

"You can help out with this," he said as he held out the books at him, "I usually kind of sort them by topic so if you wanna do that! I'll go... get a broom or something."

"Sure!" Will said, and started working through the books. He couldn't read them, but he could take a guess at what books were what. Antonio would be able to tell him if he'd sorted them wrong anyway. There were art books full of pictures of paintings, books he guessed were historical (some of the titles started with "La Guerra" which after flipping through them he guessed meant "war"), cookbooks (pictures of food made this clear enough), and some that looked like they could be novels since they were text only.

Then he came across one that looked to be about a sport. It had a ball just like rugby, but the ball was round instead of egg-shaped. He flipped through the book, and got partway through before he realised it was about soccer/football. New Zealand had a team, but football was nowhere near as popular as other sports in his country. Arthur did try to teach him how to play it when he was smaller, but he didn't take to it as readily as he took to rugby. That said, he did admire the skill involved in playing it, and the pictures in this book were nice...

---

* Sorry I took so long! D:
* If you need me to add more to this let me know.

[Spain]

“Well, here, use this, no need to cut your fingers on anything!” Antonio said as he returned to the room with a broom, only to stop when he found William pouring over a few of the books that had toppled over. Smiling, he set the pan on the ground and started to sweep the broken glass and pieces into the pan. Deep inside, he felt slightly embarrassed about the mess that the war had created, though it was too late for him to try to hide anything – almost all of the major powers had at least visited, if not joined in on the war. They had climbed the debris created by the bombs and noted the bullet holes riddling the streets of Madrid. Not even the young children ran outside anymore, forced to stay in by their mothers out of fear that a fight may suddenly break out in the streets.

Looking up, he could see that Will had started to sort through his books, though a little distracted by some of the books that he had. The feeling of nostalgia filled him as he observed, as many of the books were bought during the times, when he was eager to own the latest philosophy book or was in great need of some sort of entertainment. Grinning as he tried to get a glimpse of what he was looking at, his olive green eyes swept over the neat stacks of art history books, novels and such. He would have expected of someone who was under the British care (though he still insisted that those raised by him were more sassy and cute). Then he saw that the young boy had been looking intently at one of the books he had haphazardly picked up during his travels.

“So you like football?” he inquired, his voice crisp and cheerful, “I would have thought you would have liked something like polo or rugby since Arthur seems to like it so much.” But deep inside, he was happy to see that Will was not merely a copy of his caretaker, as a lot of children when taken in early in age tend to just adopt their caretaker’s qualities and preferences. Then taking a seat next to Will, crossing his legs in the process, Antonio’s eyes almost seemed to sparkle as he pointed at the book, “We don’t need some silly book to tell us how to play if you wanna play, you know!” Then with that, he continued to gush about the matches that he had seen lats year, trying hard not to let the fact that the war was hindering some of the matches bother him. Instead, he grinned as he sorted through some of the other things that were on the floor.

Then after a moment of silence, Antonio could not stand the quiet anymore and looked over at him, “How have things been for you? Anything else going on ‘sides the fact that you’re over here helping out?”

[New Zealand]

Will heard Antonio return while he was looking through the books, but was focused on the task and didn't respond at first until he heard Antonio's question about liking football. He liked pretty much every sport he's been taught, but rugby is his favourite.

"I like all the sports I've seen so far, but rugby is my favourite. We do have a football team, but it's not very popular in my country." Will said. "Arthur taught me and Alex a lot of different sports including football, and he doesn't like losing to either of us on the sports field. We don't like losing either, so we do our best to win fair and square."

Sport was one of the things he liked about Arthur. He was willing to teach him sports and play with him, and they were both quite competitive which made games even better. Antonio then started talking about football matches, and Will was quite happy to listen. Then he asked Will about what was happening in his own country.

"Things are peaceful back home, and the big thing happening this year is the State Housing scheme. My boss decided to build houses for families who can't afford to buy a house. The houses will be really good quality and built to last, and the families will be charged a quarter of their weekly income in rent. Eventually they'll have paid enough rent to own the house!" Will said. He was really happy that his bosses wanted to improve his people's lives by making sure they could get houses that were safe and warm.

"The only thing I don't like about this is that Pakeha families will be the only ones to get these houses at first. Maori families need houses just as much if not more so than Pakeha families, and they were my people before Arthur sent his people to my country to live." Will said. "But who gets houses first isn't my decision, it's my boss's decision. I just think the state houses should go to the people who need them most whether they're Maori or Pakeha, and if I was making the decisions that's what would happen. They're all my people and one shouldn't be put ahead of another just because of their ancestry and how they look. It just isn't right or fair."

Will stopped talking and wondered if he'd gone too far or said something he shouldn't. He didn't normally complain about his boss's decisions like this, but the idea of separating people by ancestry just didn't sit right with him. To him all of his people were the same and should be treated the same.

---

* Pakeha means foreign, but in this case it's being used to describe people of NZ European ancestry.

[Spain]

Antonio nodded attentively as he listened to Will's response. It seemed to him that whenever the British were bored, they would create some sort of new sport, granted, it did not seem like they had much to do on the island anyway. Granted, he would have to give the English some credit for their innovation, after all, it was only such people who could take kicking things and running with a ball and turn it into some sort of recreational activity. "Oh, I see," he said in response, "it's too bad that football doesn't have the same appeal to you, though rugby's not bad! Though granted, I didn't end up too well the last time I played." With that, the Spaniard pursed his lips together with a slight frown as he recalled the memory. Even though he was the personification of a country, built more robust than others, the human who sat on him was pretty darn heavy.

Then he waved his hand as if to shoo off the story.

When the topic changed to that of New Zealand, Antonio's eyes brightened as he brought up the humanitarian efforts that have been made. "My boss decided to build houses for families who can't afford to buy a house. The houses will be really good quality and built to last, and the families will be charged a quarter of their weekly income in rent. Eventually they'll have paid enough rent to own the house!" the youth said, a spring in his voice. Antonio smiled at the comment, "Well, it's good that they are doing stuff like this, especially since it seems like the rest of the world has been about conflicts and power." With that, he leaned back against the shelf casually and took a deep breath.

"Perhaps I should let all of your people come over," Antonio chirped, imagining a flood of Kiwis coming over at the call for help, "then trying to hold everything together wouldn't be such a large problem...." Then grinning, he sat back up again and laughed, "I guess you guys must like helping people when you can, don'tcha? That's a good spirit to have, Will, just don't lose it with age... it'd be a tragedy and make me very sad if that happened."

Surprisingly, Will continued on to talk and Antonio, as much of a talker himself, held back. It was not often, he reckoned, that he was a good kid, the type that would never complain, even when things got nasty. And with that, Antonio could not help but feel a slight feeling of jealousy, if only the colonies that were put under his care were a lot nicer, a lot more obedient. When the youth appeared to be embarrassed by the fact that he had gone off on it for a little longer than he should, Antonio smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "I'm sorry that your people are going through that," he said as he looked at him with sympathy, "it's not the best situation and when you feel for those people, it definitely doesn't help either. But keep doing what you can to help them--"

Suddenly, Antonio stopped talking as a couple cracking sounds interrupted them. Looking at Will first, his eyes grew wide as the house began to shake, causing him to move, to push the younger nation under the shelter of the couch to protect from more potential showers of glass. The low rumble of a plane, patrolling the area -- searching for potential signs of the opposition. Though they do not often open fire in civilian areas,. Antonio was not going to take any chances, even as the windows rattled to the vibrations emitted by the aircraft engine.

When it had passed, Antonio sat up and smiled sheepishly, "Well, sorry about that."

---

- I think somewhere that planes were officially flown for military purposes in 1940, but let's say this is a test run. /shotdead

[New Zealand]

"You didn't? Did you get tackled a lot?" Will grinned. Tackling was one of his favourite parts of the game. That and the odd punch-up when the ref wasn't looking. "Tackling's part of the fun, and sometimes there's fights too!"

Will guessed that Arthur taught him and his other colonies sport so they would release all their energy playing sport instead of rebelling against him. Damn that guy was smart! Sport was definitely more fun than fighting in battles.

"Well, my country is so far away that no one's come over to pick a fight aside from maybe Alex. But he doesn't really count since that's just between us, and it's never serious. So I don't normally end up taking part in war unless Arthur says 'William, get your arse over here and fight for King and Country!'." Will said. "I guess that's the advantage of living so far away from everyone else. No one wants to make the effort of chucking some soldiers on a boat and travelling for weeks to invade knowing that reinforcements would take weeks to arrive."

Will smiled as he heard what Antonio had to say about his people and their willingness to help others. It was something everyone learned to do when settlers were first migrating to New Zealand. Everyone had to muck in and help build homes for the settlers to live in back then, and that attitude still held true today. After the earthquake that hit Napier five years ago people from all over the place helped the town get back on its feet. Will wasn't entirely sure about the architecture style the town had been rebuilt in, but art deco was the current fashion so...

"When the settlers first came we learned to help each other build homes for ourselves, and helped the settlers survive. Sometimes it does seem like people have forgotten that spirit of helping and co-operation, but when there's a disaster in my country or in Australia people appear seemingly out of nowhere to help each other."

Will liked what Antonio had to say about the problems he had with the state housing scheme and was about to respond when they heard horrible sounds from overhead, and Antonio had pushed them behind the couch as a plane went over.

"Is planes going over normal?" Will said. "And about what you said before that. I don't want to give up on my people or make them feel like they've been forgotten like my bosses seem to have done. That's another reason why I came here. I didn't want the people who volunteered to feel like they'd been forgotten completely by everyone."

---

* Gah, this one was late. *fails* Sorry about that! ^^;
* In 1931, the town of Napier was levelled by an earthquake, and the town was rebuilt in what was fashionable architecture back then. Art Deco.

[Spain]

Hearing the enthusiasm in Will’s voice and seeing the look in his eyes caused Antonio to smile in amusement. However, he only replied with a “Haha, well,” and just let the other figure out what had happened, after all, he would hate to admit that it was one of his least flattering moments. He could remember the rush in the running, catching the ball, but he could also remember the crush of the impact, the air that was knocked out of him as his opponent landed on top of him. It was definitely excessive enthusiasm that led to injury, but given what he had experienced, he would much rather deal with the occasional slide tackle than the full contact of rugby. And despite the fact that the youth was younger and he same height, the Spaniard had a feeling that the youth could probably take him out just as easily as the last assailant, er, person who did that to him.

But when Will talked about Arthur and Alex, he looked with interest before cracking a smile. “Looks like we all have issues with our family, don’t we?” he asked rhetorically, “in some ways, I’m jealous hat you live far enough – you have no idea how tiring it was for me – for my king to send all those troops to all of our colonies when they would get attacked.” He refrained from mentioning the fact that it had been quite an expensive endeavor to do so, or the fact that some of it may have been due to the fact that it was just too difficult for him to maintain them, given his circumstances. There was only so much that he could do when England had been a constant thorn in the side of the Spanish crown.

Yet, that was not exactly something that he could really mention in front of the British protectorate.


As the buzz of the plane’s engine grew more and more distant, Antonio looked up and scooted away from Will. “Sorry, are you okay?” he asked, looking at him apologetically, "it had not become that bad until now, with everyone getting involved, you know?" In fact, the Spaniard sitll foudn it strange that potential threas were no longer objects that he would have to keep an eye out for on land or water, but also in the sky. Despite the fact that many people have flown successfully in them, they had now become calamities in the sky. However, at least there was no air raid this time, but it was not like there was any need for such things, not so early in the war.

Turning to Will, he was again impressed at Will's reaction and nodded in agreement. "Your people are fortunate then, it's not always the case that the typical citizen would feel that they are being recognized by their government or heir country, it doesn't happen very often," he said cheerfully. Despite the fact that he failed to recall the times when he was not always there for his own people, Anonio did at least acknowledge the fact that it was nice to be recognized for his effors.

[New Zealand]

Will noted Antonio's reaction to his question and smiled. Clearly he'd been on the receiving end of a strong tackle and wasn't used to it. To play rugby you had to be prepared to be potentially squished by someone bigger and heavier than you. Will liked playing on the wing for that reason. There was slightly less chance of someone big squashing him on the field, and if he got clear of the defenders he could run super-fast for the try line. He had been playing rugby for decades, and had gotten quite good by now. He could even beat Arthur at the sport, and so could Alex!

"If you're fast you could try being on the wing. You don't get tackled as often. Or maybe you just need more practice at the game? Hmm. People in this part of the world... Aside from Arthur and his brothers, France is pretty good at it. He might be able to practice with you!"

That was true. France had a good national team, and were really competititve. Will wasn't so sure if Antonio liked any of the other British nations at all, so France was the best suggestion he could give.

"My family's a bit dysfunctional, but I know they'll be there when I need them. That's the really important thing." Will said. He didn't care what people thought of how his family shows they care about each other. Every prank and every insult had some level of love behind it even if it never looked that way, but not everyone understands that.

"I can sort of understand that about colonies since I have nations I look after in the South Pacific. There's Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. I also help Alex and Arthur look after Nauru. No one has ever tried to invade me or them since I took Samoa off of Germany in World War One, and they aren't too much to handle at this point. I'm sure they'll ask for independence when they're ready, and that's fine with me." Will liked the five nations he looked after. Even though they didn't always see eye to eye they had some common culture and language between them. It was also fun to talk in their own languages together and confuse Arthur.

"I'm fine, and thanks for protecting me. And there's no need to apologise! You didn't order the plane to fly over the house, and what's happening here isn't your fault either. My country used to be full of civil war when I was little. My people fought among themselves when I was a small child because they had no other enemies to test their strength against for the longest time. That wasn't anyone's fault, it was just the way it was."

Will knew the events leading up to the fighting here wasn't Antonio's personal fault, so why did he feel the need to apologise? If anything he was the one who should apologise for intruding on the other's war. He also nodded at Antonio's last statement. He could understand that for larger populations, but his own population was very small. Perhaps it was easier for him to be more aware of what his people does because he has less of them than a lot of the other nations.

---

I'm sorry if it fails; I've been dealing with writer's block lately. ^^;
* NZ annexed the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau in the 1900s, and although the Cook Islands and Niue have independent governments and are in free association with NZ now, Tokelau isn't quite self-governing yet.
* NZ took over Samoa at the start of World War 1, and the League of Nations gave NZ guardianship in 1919 until Samoa gained independence in the 1960s.
* Part of the annexing of nations was a dream some of NZ's leaders had at the turn of the century of NZ creating an Empire of its own in the Pacific. The Empire never happened in the end.