Kyle knocked on Agnes’s front door, the sound muffled by his gloves. After doing so he rubbed his numbing nose, which had gone red and a little runny from the chill. In all honesty, it could have been worse--at least it wasn’t below freezing. The poor Aussie still suffered a chill in these cool, single-digit temperatures, though. Despite it being Summer in Svalbard, it was the same temperature as the current Winter back home. His chest ached a little from trekking with his heavy research equipment, his lungs not used to the cool but dry air.
Despite still acclimatising to the cold of his temporary home, Kyle made sure that he wouldn’t look like such a wet blanket when Agnes opened the door. He set down his research equipment and his large backpack so that he could greet her with a hug and a smile.
“Coffee, for sure.“ a slow nod, a hum, but then she outstretched her arms and looked at Agnes for a moment. “But please indulge me, watch this.“ without another word, she fell back, into the snow, and just laid there, sunken into the wet, frozen earth. “It’s like being home in a pillow.“ what a nerd.
“Agnes, I already owe you one for helping with my shirt, but--” Gabriel holds up his smartphone, looking very much the confused old man. “Do you know anything about how to fix these? Somehow I changed my keyboard to the Cyrillic alphabet and I can’t figure out how to change it back...”
A nostalgic smile set itself on Katerijne’s lips, and she stopped playing with Agnes’ hair for a moment. “I’m sorry I’m so busy lately. I want to have more time for you.” Being a nation was tough, however, especially with the overworking tendencies Kat had.
“You know, Sophie misses you, too.” The blonde started braiding the other’s hair, dividing the locks and then entwining them together. “Want to have a movie night soon?”
Gabriel’s first real father figure, the man he called ‘father’, was Carthage. Before Carthage came along, Lugus didn’t have anyone he looked up to as a father. With the Lusitani, he went from house to house as his caretakers got fed up dealing with this gremlin, and he never got close to any of them. Most of this relationship was fighting the Romans for Carthage, which he was fine with, really. He’d already been doing that, and now he got extras like a proud dad for it. He learned little Punic and only visited the city twice before it was burned down, but he respected and admired Carthage and tried to follow his example.
Lugus didn’t hear the news about the city’s destruction until months later, and it didn’t…hit him at first that Carthage was gone. He just shrugged and went about his life, thinking nothing of the absence. It wasn’t until a few years after he became Roman Lusitania/Marinus, as he sat around wondering when he would be rescued that it hit him. His father was gone. There would be no rescue. This made him resent his father’s memory and despise Rome even more for Carthage’s destruction.
He never saw Rome as a father figure, even to this day refuses to consider him family although he thinks of himself as part of the Romance family. But Rome left a profound influence on Lusitania, on the culture, the language, the people, the boy. He’ll deny any similarities people draw between him and Rome though. Other father figures include Viriathus (Gabriel’s hero, he was a great Lusitanian warrior), Umayyad Caliphate (who taught Gabriel a lot but little Gabriel HATED him), Afonso Henriques (his first king who he admired so deeply he took his last name), all of whom he respected and had a huge influence on him.
And now…Gabriel as a father. He enjoyed the thought of having kids, even if it wasn’t exactly realistic for him as a personification, and was quick to adopt his colonies as his ‘children’. Doesn’t mean he actually acted like the father he called himself, in fact it was the opposite at first. He rarely stayed in one place for more than a month, and even when he was there, he treated parenting more like a hobby than anything. Gabriel loved his children but he was also a teenager and had little idea of how to take care of kids.
Then in 1822, Gabriel got a huge wake up call with Brasil’s independence. This is when it hit him he hadn’t been the father he wanted to be, and Gabriel sat back for a while think on his life. This is also when he let go of a lot of resentments, particularly towards his father and Rome. 19th century Gabriel did a lot of introspection, especially on how he’d approached fatherhood and he came out of that determined to do better.
Nowadays being a good father is basically…his main goal. Gabriel knows he wasn’t a great father when he was younger and wants nothing more than to make up for it and have a good relationship with his kids. His wallet has multiple pictures of his kids, and he’ll worry about them and call to check up on them frequently. Recently he’s trying (keyword trying) to follow some new rules he set for himself: Stop calling his kids brats, and don’t interfere in their love lives. Gabriel says he doesn’t play favorites, and will say he loves all his kids equally, but he definitely has a favorite in Brasil. He also loves doting on the younger nations too and it doesn’t take much for him to welcome them as family. Gabriel is the daddest of dads.
