Characters;
Yorkie 'Yorkshire' Fae
Arthur 'England' Kirkland
Tevio 'Roxburgshire' Fae
Pairings; British counties
Summary; Yorkie wants to learn to read. Arthur doesn't want to teach mag. Sort-of sequel to "I shall not want"
Note; the counties are represented by fairies. The fairies use mag/magis/magiself pronouns.
York, 1565
"Yorkie, put that down!" Arthur yells.
"Lick my fruits!" Yorkie snaps back. The Bible topples from the shelf Arthur had placed it on, the corner swinging in Yorkie's tiny hand. Try as mag might, mag struggles to fly with such a heavy object dangling from magis thin little fingers, and mag ends up flapping mags way to the ground in defeat.
"I told you to put it down," Arthur chastises.
"And I told you to lick my fruits." Yorkie pulls the book open.
"What are you even doing?"
"Teach me to read!"
"What?" Arthur physically laughs. "You're too busy to read, Yorkie. Who'll hang up the lambs tails if you're too busy reading?"
"I don't actually hang up lamb's tails, you know."
"Of course you do, how else do they get on the trees?" Arthur pats Yorkie's head patronisingly. Mag shrieks at him, shaking tiny fists at him.
Arthur picks the Bible up, closing it and putting it back on the shelf.
"Oi! Took me an age to get that out!" Yorkie yells, zipping back up to it.
"Probably a sign you should leave it well alone," Arthur says, "If you want me to read to you, I will do happily, you know that."
"I don't want you to read to me, you pretentious baude! I want to read by my own!"
"I told you, you don't have time," Arthur says plainly, "Where's this come from, you're being ridiculous."
"The Scottish fae can read," Yorkie says, zipping around Arthur and clinging to his rosary, "Tevio was telling me."
"You know I don't like you talking to Protestants."
"You're not my keeper!"
Arthur sighs. Yorkie always has been a stubborn little sod. "Tevio doesn't even like reading."
"How do you know?!"
"None of them do. They all want to quit, go into working again like you do."
Yorkie glares at him. "I think you're lying."
"Fine. You go ask your buddy Tevio. Mag hates it. All the teachers do is drill, drill, drill information. It's long hours of sitting still, staring at the same thing over and over. Just stick to lamb tails, Yorkie."
Yorkie sulks. "But the English fae can read too!"
"But they have less responsibilities."
"No they don't!"
Arthur lifts up his rosary, glaring at Yorkie. Yorkie sulks, flapping off the rosary to the mantelpiece. Mag sits down, kicking magis legs idly.
"My God, don't look at me like that," Arthur says, leaning on the mantelpiece.
Yorkie pulls magis legs up, pointedly looking in the opposite direction to where Arthur stands, magis wings folded down magis back.
"I didn't mean it, Yorkie," Arthur says gently, running a finger down the thin wings.
Yorkie flaps angrily. "Don't touch."
Arthur stares at the soft white veins, calculating. "You bloody-minded git."
Yorkie sniggers.
"Do something for nothing for yourself, and leave education well alone," Arthur says gently, rubbing Yorkie's head with the pad of his finger.
Yorkie smiles, "Fine. But only for myself."
Arthur returns the smile.
Based on a review from ShayminxForeverx; "Fun Fact : According to my history teacher, education was first compulsory in Scotland before it was in England. :)"
Well that tears a hole in my headcannon
The push for universal education in Scotland started in 1560, when Scotland became a Protestant country. England was still Catholic at the time (hence the rosary).
Tevio hating education is more of a reference to early universities. Attendance began at roughly age 14, but a lot of the working class who attended we unused to the long hours of stillness. Many would drop out after only a few sessions. However, Arthur is slightly exaggerating to Yorkie, because he's too lazy to teach mag.
"Lick my fruits" fruits = genitals
"Hang up the lambs tails" is from an old Northern. Heather would begin to sprout around the same time farmers would cut of lambs' tails (for their health, it stopped them overheating and didn't hurt them don't worry). As sprouting heather looks like lambs' tails, the myth went that fairies would cut off the lambs' tails and hang them on the heather trees for winter.
"Baude" Old English/Chaucerian for 'pimp'
Tevio's name comes from Teviotdale, a Scottish province now known as Roxburgshire.
"Bloody-minded" 'stubborn'. Stubborness is one of the main stereotypes of people from Yorkshire.
"Do something for nothing for yourself" part of the Yorkshire man's motto, "If you ever do anything for nothing, do it only for yourself"
Is is obvious that I'm from Yorkshire?
I own nothing
-Laurel Silver
