Argh-tor's notes: I should be working at Why Am I Here Again, but then Hong Kong threatened to bomb my house and my computer if I didn't work on his story.
Donald: Sulk...
Argh-tor: Hey, I was busy!
Donald : You're just lazy!
Argh-tor: ...Touche. How about the next time I get back to HK, I'll treat you for food?
So here you go, enjoy!
The Exorcism Of Ivan Braginski.
To the average person, if asked when the best time of the year was, many would reply , "Christmas" or " New Year's " or even " My birthday of course! Ahahahahahahahaha! I'm so cool!" ( It was ambiguous as to who said that, but most had shifted to two parties, those who agreed it was Alfred, while others argued that it was definitely Gilbert.)
But ask any Chinese person and many would invariably reply, " Chinese New Year."
It was , after all , considered a rather no-brainer question. Firstly, Chinese New Year , a signal that Spring was arriving, was a time of family togetherness, where everyone could gather together and eat , chat and catch up. If you had a large extended family, the fun would increase as you could sit and listen to the new gossip around the family, while others would amuse themselves watching others get humiliated by their relatives, the best being those whom got hugged and kissed and noogied by them . (You know what they're like, they're relatives who embody the essence of Aunties and Uncles around the world. Every family has one.)
Secondly, Chinese New Year was great as it gave people a great opportunity to pig out. When else could the average Chinese person pig out on sweetmeats and candy? The rolled up thin crispyt wafer known as the Love Letters? Wondrous! Sweet bits of pineapple filling dipped on top of pastries? Exquisite! The roasted , sweetened, flat pieces of pork, known as bak kwa ? If you were a child, you would have fainted , died and gone off to the heavenly gates of Heaven .
Thirdly, Chinese New Year was a great holiday because of the amount of cash one could get during the holiday. While in many cases there were events and occasions when cash could be used as gifts, the Chinese New Year was an annual event where there was a guarantee that there was money involved. For children ( and unmarried people) , if they did the proper ceremony of wishing "Happy New Year " to their relatives who were married, they were given a small red packet which contained money in side. Known as lai see in Cantonese, the money was the highlight of the holiday to these people and the amount kept rising as the years went by, giving the children a form of monetary security for a short while of time. (The married couples, on the other hand, always dreaded this part of the year, because of the fact that they would be drained of their money due to this wonderful tradition. If they were part of a large extended family with many children...mwahahahahaha.)
If you were a nation which were Chinese or had Chinese ancestry, however, there was also a guarantee that there would be utter chaos .
There , sitting on a sofa , was a porcelain doll, rosy red cheeks puffed up , black longish hair combed neatly and golden eyes showing every form of indignance.
The anthromorphic personification of Hong Kong sat, looking stiff and proper in a red and gold changshan, disgruntled as his older brother Yao fussed over his appearance , trying to wet his hair and comb it down, while adjusting the sleeves so that the gold threads caught the light. Unfortunately, to the poor nation acting as a model, it was absolutely tortuous.
" Yew Dai –gor, must we do this every year? As it is, I can't put down my hands cause the sleeves are so stiff. My arms are tired!" If the nation of Hong Kong could whine about something, it was the fact that his older brother always babied him, trying to make sure he did everything right. In fact, it was at Yao's insistence that he wear the special changshan tailored made for him this year, made from expensive, heavy silk and embroidered with stiff , shiny gold thread, making it both stiff and heavy.
Yao, on the other hand , was adamant. " Don't call me Yew! Honestly, what is wrong with using Mandarin now and then? Ni yi ding yao ji de ni de guo yu. Wo shi Yao! Bu shi Yew, Xing Chi!" He himself was clad in a more flattering shade of green, making his porcelain skin attain a gleam of cream to it.
" Guo yu? Bu hway ba, da ge. Pu tong hua zhen de hen ma fan." Retorted the nation, fidgeting in his seat. " Why can't I use Cantonese anyway?" he asked sulkily." Cantonese is a form of Chinese too...and it's Donald, not Xing Chi! "
He was rewarded with a small whack on the head with a paper fan that Kiku had bought for Yao during Christmas. " You use Cantonese all the time back in your house, is it a crime to use the language I taught you? " demanded Yao, wielding the fan with a huffiness that could only be done by a nation that mothered ( not fathered, mothered) many nations under his wing.
" It's a crime of fashion when you make me wear old men's clothes...I'm not an old man like you..." Muttered Donald.
Unfortunately, Yao had indeed heard that, and was now furiously wielding his paper fan ." Why you...!"
"Oh no, now we see the violence inherent in the system!" yelled Donald, getting off his seat and running for all he could.
When the nation of Singapore arrived with the nation of Vietnam, one clad in a seductive looking red qipao that showed off her curves despite her petite-ness, and the other wearing a maroon ao dai that belied her tough nature as a country and made her look delicate and graceful, they were greeted by the sight of their younger brother being swung upside down by a rope while their big brother was whacking him with the paper fan.
" Oh, hi, Leona, Nhouc Lan. " he said, nonchantly, cupping his hands around his mouth to call out. " Come see the violence inherent in the system! Help help, I'm being repressed!"
" Xing Chi, ni zhe ge da ben dan!"
" Oh, what a bloody giveaway! Did you two hear him say that? You two saw him repressing me, didn't you!"
" Seriously, xiao di, stop trying to make fun of big brother Yao." Chastised the nation of Singapore as she sat her brother down, waiting to give a lecture. Across from them, Yao was led by a soothing Vietnam to the kitchen, helping to prepare the dishes.
The nation of Hong Kong squirmed. If one were to look at both Singapore and Hong Kong, there was a certain degree of concurrence that both nations were twins ( Fraternal , that was). These two nations were similar: both had Chinese backgrounds while also having spent time under England's hand, both had strong economies and both had at one point of time been busy ports. This could be further seen from their facial looks, both having the same oval features and golden brown eyes inherited from Yao. However, that was where their similarities ended. The nation of Singapore, a.k.a. Leona had a darker complexion attaining a more olive complexion due to her people being of four main races. Hong Kong , however had a smoother, paler complexion more inherent to his Chinese blood . There were more differences but then the narrative would have gone on and on and on, so I'll just cut it here.
" I try not to, Xiao Mei , " he said. ( Both nations had referred to each other and younger brother and younger sister respectively. Neither would agree on who was the younger one.)" But it's so much fun."
Trying her best not to smile despite her amusement, Leona sternly said, " Yeah well, for once , behave yourself! It's Chinese New Year's eve! Everyone once a year the family comes over to have a reunion dinner and to be frank, a year's too long to see them! I know you spend the most time with Big brother Yao (said big brother was now somewhat placated and boiling a giant bowl of Shark Fin's Soup) , so you get the most aggravated, but you guys did have fun, right?"
Grudgingly, the brother gave his consent on not antagonizing his older brother anymore than he should.
" In any case, " Leona continued bossily. " We're expecting the whole family here today...Kiku's coming in soon once he wraps up some business back in his house, Tao Zi would be here from Taiwan soon..." She frowned slightly, screwing up her face in a bid to remember. " Do we have any more relatives?"
Donald looked at her and suddenly she remembered. " Yong Soo." They both said simultaneously with a groan.
" He's not here yet?" Leona asked, scanning the surrounding warily. While Yong Soo had been considered as one of her favourite siblings, it was also notable at the fact that Yong Soo could tire out even neutral Singapore from his antics. A few years ago Yong Soo had an obsession with breasts and grabbing them, especially of those from Japan and China. It was still an on-going phase.
" He said something about stalking the band Super Junior at the airport of something, but could come as soon as he was done." Donald replied. Then something struck him . " Russia."
Leona shivered, thinking back to the tall , calm nation that gave the other nations chills. "What about him?"
"He's coming over for dinner too..."
In most cases, most nations, with the exceptions of Belarus and Ukraine, would deny any sort of connection with the tall Russian nation.
This was more because of the fact that Ivan was a scary man, despite his calm , rather hippie like stance towards life. ( " Let's us all be friends! Peace on earth! Become one with Mother Earth ...and Russia! Drink Vodka!")
This had been emphasized greatly into Donald's own history as he was one of the nations which had stayed with China the longest, having too close a proximity to his house. Unfortunately, this also meant that he had been under his wing for a long, long while, when Donald was not yet an independent nation and was known primarily as Xing Chi.
Now, as many kids would know, parents would do anything to get their kids to listen to them, using conventional methods such as bribing them or punishing them by sending them to their rooms. ( Author's notes: Is this really how western people do so? ) Asian parents, on the other hand, had a special technique which had been perfected by them throughout the centuries. (No offense, people, but in the author's greatest opinion, Asian parents are the scariest of them all. If you agree, say yeah.)
Yao may had been a man, but he did, of course act as a mother to the states and nations he had. He had, of course implemented some of the more creative punishments on his charges.
Xing Chi of course was unfortunately no exception.
In any case, what had happened was that Yao, during the olden ages, had had visits from the Northern nation so that they could discuss territorial frontiers, diplomacy and on occasions just for leisure. Thus, Xing Chi had been one of the personifications most experienced with trying to interact with Ivan. Unfortunately, it was evident that while Xing Chi was comfortable and rather indifferent to the many nations that had visited Yao ( including visits from his older brother Kiku before he went into that whole " locking oneself within the room and sever all contact with everyone else" phase), the northern neighbour had, for some reason, made the young area entity nervous.
Xing Chi just couldn't pinpoint a certain part which he didn't like about the Russian. Perhaps it was the fact that his ash silver blonde hair was too much like gray to the young nation, and when in the sun, the colour of the hair would catch the sun's rays and turn them white, the colour of death. Perhaps it was the fact that the Russian was one of the tallest nations he had ever seen. Perhaps it was because of the fact that the purple eyes Russia had were somehow unnatural and all-knowing at the same time, their omniscient glances at the boy usually sending shivers down Xing Chi's back.
Perhaps it was the fact that he still remembered Yao's first story, of the monster with the kindest face and purple eyes, but was inclined to bash people to a bloody pulp, which was why he shouldn't trust strangers at first glance.
Even though Yao had failed to tell him that the story was in fact based on a true story ( Russia had , at that time been a rather happy nation until he found out that somebody had drank all his vodka), Xing Chi had clung to the belief that the big Western nation north to them was a monster, one to be respected, but also to be feared.
Yao did not help by doing the special technique that most kids fear of. This usually encompassed much telling to Xing Chi that if he did not behave himself, he would sell him to Russia.
Yeap. And you thought your parents were bad.
Not that Yao meant to scare Donald intentionally. It was just that considering the fact that Donald was usually very complacent in his near sadist torturing and his usual expression was one of much indifference ( eg. " You bore me. Unless you have anything for value to me, I'll just do what I want. Mm...Yummy . Stop calling me Xiao. I am not a child. And this is all so stupid...ooh, lookie, a giant doggie! It's mine!").
And Yao had to find a way to make sure the boy behaved himself sometimes, if not all the time.
So he only used the threat sparingly. But the fear of Russia had already been sealed into his mind forever, even after he had lived with Arthur and gotten older as well as an English name.
And it only got worse when , in recent times, Yao had gotten into a relationship with Ivan.
" Aiyah! " Grumbled Yao, trying his absolute best to carry a tureen of hot soup onto the table, while his sister Nhouc Lan calmly carried the fish dish behind him. Leona had already set the table and was now opening the door to greet Kiku, who had travelled with Yong Soo. The nation of Taiwan Tao Zi had arrived earlier ,and was now bouncing over to hug Kiku while Yong Soo jumped to hug Tao Zi and Leona, making poor Kiku in the centre feel rather overcrowded and near to death from lack of oxygen.
Donald, on the other hand, was plotting. Chewing on pork floss eggrolls, he had to think of a way to look cool and collected in front of Russia, without looking as though he was afraid. He was not afraid. Never had. Never will be.
The aura he then picked up, signifying that a new nation was approaching Yao's house. One which held a trace of ice in its touch, of the smell of Vodka, and perhaps a tinge of a metallic scent...
Russia had arrived.
" Jao! I've arrived!"
The nation himself didn't seem to be one in whom everyone feared. In fact, he was wearing am orange coloured Chinese shirt, which resembled the one Yao himself wore. He looked rather handsome in the shirt, and the shade of orange brought out the purple in his eyes.
Which also brought out more fear in the mind of Donald. Though of course he'd never admit that to anyone.
The others seemed taken aback as well at the new arrival, but all managed to compose themselves before Ivan had the chance to turn them into the shivering Baltics.
"Здравствуйте, everybody!" Ivan beamed at the younger nations staring at him and his outfit, which had dragons sewn onto it, making it looking rather beautiful. " You must be Yao's younger brothers and sisters, da? Wow, there are so many of you! You all have his eyes, except for Japan kun, of course! And this is Taiwan? I met you before, I think...and you must be South Korea! Yao told me about you ! Though, touching people's property is a bad thing, da? " ( Yong Soo shivered in fear , a first for the South Korean Nation.) " Nhouc Lan! How are you? It has been a long while since I visited ! Is your country still warm and sandy? "
He then came to the last nation, the petulant, pouting nation of Hong Kong.
" Hi, Xing Chi!" He bent down to face him, purple meeting golden brown. " Remember me?"
Donald was many things. He was young, he was obstinate, he was usually emotionless even if he had pulled a huge trick on his siblings, he had a thing for blowing things up and creating things, was a glutton at the dinner table, and was , as Arthur had once put it, " had the souls of a thousand imps within him."
However, he was , at that very moment, a very frightened young nation, who still remembered his first frightening story.
So he did the first thing a frightened nation would do.
" Why is young Xing Chi running away?" asked Yao as he came out of the kitchen to embrace his boyfriend and to stare at the little red and gold figure running upstairs to the room he used in Yao's house.
Ivan could only smile, one hand on a bouquet of sunflowers he had brought in especially for Yao, another holding a red bag filled with Mandarin oranges and goodies. " Maybe he is shy, da?
It's only a nation, he can't be scary, I'm an adult now...
Donald had chanted this while sitting at the round table, concentrating on nothing but the space between Ivan and Yao, envisioning smoke coming out from Ivan's ears and the sudden, rather shrill screech as Ivan's face started to melt, oozing into a puddle of goo. That was how vampires usually melted when touched or in the sight of a holy cross, right?
Or was that witches when touched with water?
He really should stop watching weird horror flicks.
Turning the black Rosary beads he had kept in his pocket, Donald held them tightly, feeling each individual bead tight against his palm. He had borrowed them from the nearest church ( Borrowed being a rather liberal term as to describe how Donald got it. He was going to put it back soon!) and tried to feel the divine power rushing through his veins and making the nation facing him disappear.
Of course, the great God Almighty did not work that way, so Donald had to content himself with the Rosary beads.
Arthur had taken Donald to church every Sunday when Donald was still staying with him. ( They had private pews, near where the Royal Family themselves had. If any other people had looked closely, they would have noticed a rather short , blonde young man trying to keep control of the solemn Chinese teenager who had , while supposedly sitting quietly and reading his hymn book, been actually concealing Chinese comics and sometimes food within his sleeves. Once the boy had even brought a frog into the church, and had released the young thing into the place, watching as the room slowly descended into chaos. Of course, that was if you actually noticed these two strange people during church.) Though Donald did not always pay exact attention to what was going on during church, he did know of the more important things, one of them being the Lord's Prayer. He recited it now, while fingering the beads, putting the Prayer into a loop in his mind while fervently hoping that divine power would come to his aid and protect him from evil machinations and crazy nations. ( It was rather Ironic, really.) He was so focused on his task that he barely touched his food, a first for the nation as well. All he did was stare at Ivan, while Tao Zi sneakily dumped some of her hated veggies onto Donald's plate, and Yong Soo had blatantly stolen Donald's steamed dumplings.
Yao, however, noticed the weird look on Donald's face and his unusual lack of appetite. " Xing Chi? Ni hai hao ma?"
Now , all the nations' eyes were on Donald , all matching golden brown except for one set of purple, all radiating concern. He forced his face to look emotionless and his eyes to look blank while replying, " I'm okay..."
Yao, however, was not convinced. " You look pale...you sure you don't need rest, aru?"
Yong Soo had taken the opportunity to start prodding and molesting his brother under the guise of , " checking him over." " It's not Chicken flu again, is it? " He asked , poking his ribs. " Or the Swine Flu? Ooh, maybe it's the Melamin contaminated milk again... Or the Asian Financial Crisis..."
Kiku slapped Yong Soo's down, ending his brief attack." Stop that, Yong Soo." To the others, he said," Perhaps Donald is parched? We should get him some water..."
Before Donald could do anything, Ivan himself stood up and said, " I'll go and get it...It's in Yao's kitchen, da?" He then strode to the kitchen, having to nearly bend down before entering the doorway.
Looking immensely worried, Yao quickly placed one hand over Donald's forehead . "If you're sure..."
While he had considered himself an insane criminal mastermind, Donald had, for a small moment, felt a frisson of guilt for making Yao worry. He had affection for the older man. After all, they had been stuck together for quite a large amount of years, and while Donald had enjoyed his time at Arthur's place ( Arthur however, could not exactly say he enjoyed it as much as Donald did) ,he never really felt all at home with Arthur than he did with Yao. They had more in common.
That feeling quickly passed when a small clunk and "psh!" was heard . This was immediately followed by an " Ooops " heard in Ivan's own childish voice, much like a five year old when he had first done something wrong.
Donald began to feel the menacing aura creeping up his spine...and felt that a whole recitation of Duetoruemy was in order...but unfortunately that voice that belonged to Satan was coming closer...and so was his presence...
" Yao-kun, I am sorry, da. But I seemed to have damaged your water faucet..." the childish voice said as he ventured out of the kitchen, holding something silver in his hands.
Yao tutted as he went forth to examine the damage inflicted. " Aiyah, Ivan. Was there a need to take out the WHOLE water faucet along with the PIPE, aru?"
The younger nation froze. " Water Faucet...and PIPE?
Turning around slowly so that he could see it...he saw the giant Russian , purple eyes gleaming with a strange glint ( though it was arguable that could have been confusion) and a small smile that was deemed as dangerous ( but also could be interpreted as sheepish). And with the silver water pipe in his hands, faucet still shiny and the longish neck of the pipe beaded with drops of water, gleaming oh so dangerously in the Russian Nation's large hands, the picture was complete.
There was a small snap and the resulting scene was one which none of the nations had ever seen happening even once in their lives, much less twice on the same day.
" You mei you gau chuo!" Yao had said incredulously as the small figure of Donald was , once again , running and this time screaming in terror up the stairs into his room and slamming the door. He turned back to the remaining family members, who were also in shock over seeing Donald actually scream for once." Have you ever seen this? What has gotten into Xing Chi?"
Leona spotted something black glittering on the floor , which also had others scattered everywhere else. Picking one up, she examined it carefully, wondering why was her brother handling broken pieces of what seemed to be a string of rosary beads.
After internally scolding himself for his stupidity ( well, duh...obviously the Russian had taken control of the Church...he used it to curse Kiku back in the day! The whole church was probably under his spell anyway!) , he decided that a huge change had to be in order.
But how?
Sitting cross legged on the floor, Donald was now using a little meditation drum used for prayer in Buddhism, a great big golden statue of the same man sitting on his lotus seat in front of him. Admittedly, it was a smaller replica of the giant one he had on one of his islands, but still it had nearly filled the room.
The great, wise face of the Buddha however did nothing to soothe Donald's nervous mind. In fact, it reminded him of the serene face of the tall nation of Russia before he took out his pipe and bashed people to death. Not that he had ever seen it before.
Argh... Stop thinking about demons! Donald wanted to yell. Ommm...I am peaceful...I am one with earth...Ommm...Russia will explode into a thousand pieces...
there was that knock on the door again and the door opened, revealing the face of his older brother Kiku.
" Sumimasen, Shin –kun. " said Kiku, opening the door wider to let himself in. " Yao told me to come and check on you and said that if you still wanted your lunch, its downstairs waiting at the table."
Donald nodded , never taking his eyes off the meditation drum and the little mallet. Ommm...I am a calm being of the world...
" If I may, Shin-kun," said the older nation. " While I believe that your fears of Russia –kun are legitimate, I also believe that you are taking your fears a little too far..."
Donald turned his head to his similarly emotionless brother. " Nii-san. Isn't that like saying that Tubercolosis was just a little touch of the flu?"
The flustered Kiku was trying to explain himself when suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Donald stood up , and opened the door, his face suddenly freezing into one of fear and terror.
" Xing Chi, you are okay, da?" Ivan's face was seen through the door crack, face radiating concern.
Donald tried to compose himself again, forcing his voice to seem nonchalant and stoic. " I am fine."
" Oh?" questioned Ivan. " Yao says that he has kept your food warm for you when you need it. Go and eat soon, da?"
Donald could only nod and was about to count his blessings that nothing else had happened when suddenly he spied on the silver pipe still in Ivan's hands. His face tightened and he quickly closed the door.
Ivan could only wonder why was young Xing Chi was radiating an aura that seemed to be familiar. It reminded him of the youngest Baltic state Latvia when he was in the presence of the giant Russian. But as he could not think of any reason why both countries were radiating such auras, he decided to give it up and skip back to the kitchen, so that he could return to the plumbing and to his beloved Yao.
Action had to be taken.
He had waited till nobody was looking, then quickly stole down to the kitchen and took his food upstairs, eating furiously as his plan took form.
And for that to occur, he needed more protection.
Luckily , all that he needed was found in the antiques room and with some calls to some members of the Taoist community, Donald was ready.
Twas the first night of Chinese New Year, and all around the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Well, except now. A figure had crept its way towards a certain room, taking his time to tread properly and not make any unnecessary noise in a bid to keep the beast in a false sense of security.
Said " Beast" who was being lulled into a false sense of security was now sleeping, silver blonde hair tousled and piled all over the pillow and with one strong arm keeping his Asian sleeping partner down around the waist. Both were peacefully sleeping and dreaming of wonderful flowers and colours.
The figure surveyed the scene, his eyes scrutinizing the beast in his lair at rest. The face was deceptively calm and child-like, while the princess the beast had captured in his claws was at peace, not knowing of the close danger nearby.
He had to rescue the princess.
The figure's face seemed to be stoically emotionless as he quickly set up the scene, yellow silk cloth on the wooden table, incense, candles, a roast pig. The sticks were lit, glowing up the room and revealing part of the figure's face, the light reflected in glowing golden brown eyes. He took up a sword, muttered a few chants in a monotonous voice, and then took up a paper charm with calligraphy written all over it and stuck in on the Beast's forehead to immobilise him.
And now to kill the beast...
He raised his sword high.
Suddenly, the Beast's eyes opened, the candlelight giving the purple eyes a darkish hue, making it seem more deadly and inhuman at the same time.
He sat up.
The figure stopped, sword in mid-swing.
The Beast's eyes looked up and saw the figure with the sword , standing at the foot of the bed .
He smiled, so widely that his eyes seemed closed...
And the paper charm on his head was burnt off in a crisp.
The figure started to scream in terror as he saw the scene, hands trembling so much that he had nearly lost grip on the sword.
"The princess" yelled out something rude in Chinese as he was awoken rudely by the scream.
" Tian ah! What is going on!"
He switched on the bedside lamp.
" Xing Chi? " he said, anger and confusion in his eyes. " Why are you in my room? And why is there an ALTAR set up at the foot of my bed?" He then narrowed his eyes further . " Is that...a Taoist robe you're wearing?"
Now that the light was switched on , it had spread light all over the room, and on the figure, who was indeed Donald, wearing a traditional Taoist robe and hat and wielding a long , silver sword.
The nation, however, was not to be deterred from his path. "The Beast has to die! Or be excorcised!"
Yao, however, was not have any of it. As his boyfriend was now happily sitting next to him, amused to hell and finding this whole situation rather hilarious, it was thus left to him, the one who had not been targeted for any sort of excorsism or assassination attempt, to do some serious yelling.
" Xing Chi, ni zhe ge wan ba dan! Shen ye de shi hou...ISN'T THAT MY ROAST PIG?" yelled Yao as he realised something that should have been in front of his mind from the beginning. " The one I was going to use for tomorrow's LUNCH?"
Uh oh. Now Donald knew he was in trouble. If Yao took anything seriously, it was the wastage or improper treatment of food. Add that to the fact that Donald just woke him up abruptly and the fact that Donald was doing something unnecessary AGAIN and you had one very angry Chinese man.
" I SPENT DAYS TRYING TO FIND THE RECIPE AND PURCHASING THE DAMN OVEN, THEN ANOTHER WHOLE DAY PREPARING AND POKING HOLES IN THE DAMN YOUNG PIGLET, SO THAT IT COULD HAVE THE MOST CRISPY SKIN, NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT I FELT GUILTY OVER KILLING THE DAMN PIGLET AND NOW , IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING NIGHT , YOU WASTE THE PIG ON A USELESS TAOIST CEREMONY?"
The whole house heard the yells. So did the whole of Asia. But then again, they were used to it. China always seemed to get mad at Hong Kong for many , many reasons.
" So, after threatening to cut off all ties from me as well as food supply to my house and making me return the pandas he loaned me," said Donald the next day relating the tale to his sister," Dai gor then grumbled something about making me give him two or three roast pigs as well as dimsum from the best shops at my place for today's lunch, to compensate for my " thoughtlessness." The delivery truck will arrive soon with the complementary milk tea for us. "
Leona had to chuckle , but she felt that her brother's plans to exterminate Russia had been a tad dramatic. " But what possessed you to do a TAOIST exorcism ceremony on Russia." She giggled. " I mean, no offense, Xiao –di, but I think you've been watching too much of your serial dramas and ghost movies..."
Donald said nothing, but perhaps this was due to the new arrival of someone, who was beaming from ear to ear while watching the two siblings talk. He then smiled at Leona, who felt the full force of his meaning of his smile, and said, " Erm...I'll er...have to...ooh! I feel the force of some sort of thing happening! I'm not sure what it is, or where it is, or even how I know I feel it, so I'm gonna check it out!"
With that, the small nation left, leaving a scent of orchids as she ran out of the room. It offered no sense of comfort for the nation of Hong Kong.
They both sat there, facing each other, one examining the tips of his toes and the other smiling, while fiddling with the ends of his scarf.
"You thought I was an evil monster, da, Xing Chi?"
Donald did not say a word. But inwardly agreed. There was another awkward pause between the two of them , with one looking moodily at his toes and the other trying to be friendly.
" Well, boy, I have to say, I'm surprised." Said Ivan, breaking the tense silence between them. " I always thought that you liked me, back in the days. Like the time I brought you those stuffed panda plushies?"
Donald remain silent, figuring out how to tell him that he had sold the pandas to a certain white haired red eyed nation in Europe during April Fools Day. Before he had a chance to open his mouth though, Russia started to speak again.
' But then again, I understand how you feel. At least, I think so. I used to get scared of people myself ,especially ..." Ivan shuddered, thinking about Natalia and how mad she was going to be when she finally found him." In any case, Donald, I like you, but you obviously are frightened of me. However, I'm dating your older brother. And to be honest, I don't really think Chinese ghost expelling charms are going to work on me..."
Donald inwardly thought about how stupid he could get. He had heard tales about the outcome of Busby's chair, after all.
" So how about a deal." Said Ivan, holding something in his hands, which revealed itself to be a small red packet. Donald stared up at him.
" If you try your best to be civil with me, I will be nice and buy you all sorts of nice goodies . I know you like sweets. And since I'm going to be in this family, your big brother's going to make me give out red packets with him, and I promise I'll give you a big one every year, as well as during your birthday . In return, you and I can be normal, and we'll keep the true reason behind last night a secret, da?"
The younger nation warily looked up at him, then down at the red packet. Tempted to say no, he however thought of the benefits of this transaction. The food and money and other stuff was rather tempting...and as a small child, he was used to getting what he wanted through bribery.
Besides, it seemed like Yao had some fondness for the tall Gwailo.
" A deal." He said, and both nations shook on it.
Perhaps the Russian gwailo wasn't so evil after all...
Yao then came up behind him, pondering and asking out loud, " Where on earth can that damn pipe wrench be? I could have sworn I saw it yesterday when Ivan was helping with the faucets..."
He then felt a gust of wind and Yao stared back , dumbstruck as he saw the retreating figure of the black haired nation running up the stairs and slamming the door once again.
" Xing Chi?" Yao yelled out, wondering once again what was going on as he went to sit on the sofa next to Ivan. "Honestly , why is it with that boy ? Why is he acting so strangely, aru?" he grumbled as he collapsed against Ivan, a pout on his lips as he thought about the situation.
Ivan could only chuckle mysteriously as he wound one arm around his beloved, tightly, and could only reply, " Maybe it's just spring fever, da?"
Argh-thor's Notes:
Yew Dai –gor- I imagine that Donald, as the personification of Hong Kong, would use Cantonese most of the time, in which case, he would call Yao by the Cantonese dialect. " Yew" is the pronounciation of Yao in Cantonese and Dai Gor is used to address the oldest brother.
Ni yi ding yao ji de ni de guo yu. Wo shi Yao! Bu shi Yew, Xing Chi!- You have to remember your nation's language ( referring to Mandarin)! I am Yao! Not Yew, Xing Chi! ( Yes, its weird that Yao refers to Mandarin as Donald's national language, but then again, Hong Kong is part of China, after all.)
" Guo yu? Bu hway ba, da ge. Pu tong hua zhen de hen ma fan."- National Language? You gotta be kidding me, big brother, Mandarin is very troublesome. ( Guo Yu can also translate to Mandarin in China, but in Hong Kong, they use the term Pu Tong Hua in Mandarin to refer to Mandarin as a language...Go figure, I lived in Hong Kong for 12 years and I still don't get it.)
Xing Chi, ni ze ge da ben dan! – Xing Chi, you giant idiot!
You mei you gau chuo!~- You gotta be kidding me.
Gwailo- You're gonna hear this term all the time, so take note. Cantonese , literally translated as "ghost fellow". Slang for Western Foreigners , as their pale skins and hair were rather...well...you get the picture.
Kiku refers to Xing Chi as Shin chan, as it sounds like Xing Chi. In the family, Donald is known as Xing Chi, except for Leona sometimes who uses his English name as she did in England's house, when she and him used to stay. Ivan refers to him via his Chinese name cause he has known Donald back in the days when he was still with China.
Btw, you can so totally tell that Donald had lived at Arthur's place .
Ivan is a good person, after all, though the pipe wrench trick was sorta his revenge on Donald.
Tao Zi, the name for Taiwan, is basically translated as Peach, which she always reminds me of everytime I see her. Nhouc Lan is a more special case. Despite the fact that I am part Vietnamese, I cannot, for the love of Prussia, speak a word of Vietnamese, though I speak English and mangle my Chinese and Chinese dialects most of the time. So, what happened was that I substituted the name of my sister for the character. In case anyone gets worried that the name would be a bad one, I believe the Chinese way for it to be said is Yu Lan, Jade Orchid.
I hope you like this chapter! I would take requests by anybody if they want to see a particular scene for this series of oneshots!