aphanon_meme | Part 11 comes after Part 10

Part 10 is over! Part 11 is here. If you haven't checked the challenge entry, the challenge has been extended until Part 11 maxes. Hopefully that is enough time for people who are busy with finals and such to find time to enter, if they'd like to!

Should I mention that the number 11 scares me? I really don't like that number. Like how Natalie Portman hated the number 5 (or 6?) in Where the Heart Is. But a higher number. Well, anyway.

Da Rules:
*No image bombing.

Da Notes:
*If you're feeling down, make sure to get help, and refer to links on previous parts if you need them.
*If you don't know how to post images while anon, refer to this comment. Make sure to follow the directions on that comment as well!

And also:
*Posting on this meme, logged in or not, is opening you up and taking the risk for positive and negative comments. If you can't handle that response to your logged in comments, I'd suggest posting anon and not drawing attention to yourself.
*What you say is what you say, so please make sure you want to say it. Except for special cases (that hopefully will not come up) I won't be deleting or screening comments.
*This is a NSFW space. Warnings are not required.
-Feel free to comment or message me with any questions/concerns.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's been a rather slow night.

Well, until I came across this I was sifting through the kink meme trying to find some good Nordic stuff that I hadn't already read (and re-reading some stuff I'd read before). But now that I'm here I might as well ramble on about pairings - as much as I'm capable of doing it at this late hour, I mean.

Right now my favourite pairing is Estonia/Finland. I have so much love for them - closest thing I have to an OTP really. There's a few reasons I like them so much. Some of it is just simple surface stuff - they're two of my favourites, so I'll put them together. They have canon interaction, so that helps. And they're both just so cute. Aside from that, it's something a little unusual. Don't see much of it. You hardly see Finland with anyone but Sweden, and Estonia is usually matched with Russia or one of the other Baltics. So what we have here is the potential to see a slightly different take on the characters, and the pairing itself has a different dynamic than the ones they're usually matched with.

It is a match that I see being on very equal footing. With Estonia and Russia, well - the imbalance there is obvious. And with Sweden and Finland, there is the issue of one being under the rule of the other for - well, for a very long time. So instead of a relationship where one walks two steps behind, so to speak, it is a relationship where they walk side by side, matching their pace. While at times they were controlled by the same nations, neither has been subordinate to the other.

Getting past the surface stuff, the pairing has plenty of real-world stuff to draw from. Finland and Estonia are culturally and linguistically tied, so there's potential there - though of course the argument could also be portrayed that for this reason they should be brothers or cousins or something, and you know, I'd love to see someone do something with that, but I haven't really run into it in fic, except for one... Anyway.

Historically, there are various periods to work with where they had interaction, so there's a lot of stuff to choose from; anything before the 13th century, then 16th-18th centuries, then during the Russian empire, then post-independence, then modern. Due to the stuff going on in each period the way they would relate to each other would be slightly different, so there is so much to work with here; medieval sweetness, tension between Sweden and Finland and Estonia during Swedish rule due to the marriage (or alternately a rather interesting threesome), and during Russian rule 'twas after Finland's divorce so there's the potential for re-establishing a relationship there, and so on and so forth.

One thing that really appeals to me is the romantic side of this. Maybe not "true love", but I can see it as something begun in the beginning, and even though they were torn apart so many times and changed so much, I can see it as a love that lasts in spite everything. Each having relationships while apart, but that wouldn't negate what originally was. I can see it as an old song tucked deep inside, the kind that you never forget about, and when the time comes to sing it, you still know it, and it's familiar and it's so right. Together, then apart, then near but unable to touch, then torn apart again, then finding each other once more, then separated, then nearby but the friction is too much, then separated again - then finally it's all over, and there they are, fingertip-to-fingertip, after so long, remembering the words hidden deep down, locked away for safekeeping.

Uh. Wow. This is way long. I... I don't even know, man. I just really like this pairing. :| They're cute. And there isn't much of it out there so clearly I need to write more.

Aaah, this is the reason I post these kinds of threads asking people about their favorite pairings and such. I love these kinds of responses. ♥

Of course, I love it even more because I ship them too. They're my OTP #3.

The last paragraph especially, ah. You pretty much capture why they get to me too but I could never express it properly.

Just. YES.

I could probably go on about Est/Fin forever. And ever. And ever. Well, okay, maybe not forever, but certainly a good hour or so. I've been doing research on both countries recently, and it seems I'm constantly uncovering things that give me new insight.

Unfortunately I also uncover things that give me new ideas that I don't have time to write. But at least I can write those ideas down for later.

They are just so, so, so... so. Yes.

Though you know, though I love them as a romance, I really wish there was also more... just, interaction between them in fic, period. I mean, I've read a lot of Finland fic, and it seems Estonia is hardly ever in them, even though they seem to be quite close friends in the comics (see icon). I've only stumbled across one or two things that dealt with Estonia's Swedish period, even though it was a relatively sizeable chunk of time right in the middle of Sweden and Finland's 'marriage'. Not to mention the Russian empire period, in which they'd (theoretically) be free to interact. I haven't seen anything set during that time at all.

...Clearly I need to write more. :|

You could if you want and I'd gladly listen!

Yes, I'd like to see any kind of interaction at all, too. I think the lack of Estonia is just -- people don't like Estonia. Or don't care. Or forgot he exists. ):

WHICH IS SO SAD DAMMIT

I can understand, I mean. Well, not really. I wish he was in the comics more.

These people don't know what they're missin'!

You know, I think you're probably right. Mostly on the first and third point. I've run into various people who think he's a little... boring. Well, fair enough on that point, I suppose. And there are others who just forget about him. Considering he's overshadowed in canon, and a lot of people forget about the country in real life, it's not terribly surprising, hah! ... Still unfortunate, though.

I wish there were more strips with him. He's just so cute. And I'm a sucker for the sparkles. But that relatively recent one - the indie movie strip, to go along with the April Fools takeover - was pretty ace. And it helped bring him up in people's minds, I think. I'm starting to notice a few more people who say they like him, and that makes me so happy.

Sometimes I think I'm so attached to him because of my interest in the actual country. Probably influences it, anyway. Before Hetalia. During high school, it was - had a minor obsession with the country, largely the fault of making a friend who lived there. But I suppose it isn't unusual to like a character due to real-life bias.

This response is incoherent. Clearly I need more coffee.

Part 11 comes after Part 10

Wayyyyy tl;dr. Oh my god.

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