#I invented this ship a while ago I'm just posting it now lmao

[sidepants]

nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox nachobox

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I know Matthew plays hockey, but does he ever want to just give up whatever his government job is and take playing hockey to the olympics or at least pro level? I mean it's got to be more fun than whatever secretarial, front man type corporate job he normally has to deal with when working with the gov right? Or maybe getting into farming or something. I dont know, he just seems like someone who'd eventually just lose his shit if he had to be stuck in an office for too long.

I honestly think most of his time in any government post is like the twice-a-decade he gives enough fucks to be involved. Like, what is he going to do in an office? Stamp government documents? Approve things? He's fucken useless in that environment. I think a couple of times he's said fuck it, started over and played pro hockey or Olympic hockey. He's not the only one who has probably smashed some faces. Alfred or Arthur had to help wipe and reset his identity because inventing a whole new set of documents is much more complicated nowadays than 100 years ago, but he's played and then faded into the background. He probably gets away with that more than a lot of nations can. Nice combo privilege of big bro's military-industrial complex and his own insignificance.

I've had him in the parks service as a bootlegger, a sailor, a ships carpenter, a diplomat, a firefighter, a medic, a search and rescue medic, especially a hockey coach, and a hockey player. I'm not about to write shit about people working in an office if I'm candid. I also think he drew a veterans pension for 110 years before the government went "hey wait, the last Canadian World War One vet died 10 years ago."

And as far as money goes. I think he and Alfred got their savings wiped in the 1930s, and Matt kept himself afloat via good ol' imperial nepotism via the old fart while Alfred was on his own. Since WW2, Matt's financial well-being has been so tied to Alfred's. I had an economics prof who joked that when the US economy stumbles, Canada breaks its neck, so there's some fuckery there, but let's be honest; Matt just occasionally gives Alfred the 'you have hurt my feelings' eyes and gets what he wants and like 500 apologies.

When I look at Alfred, I see someone who likes to work when it's something he's interested in. But Matt... always struck me as a bit French. Not that we don't work hard, but Matt hit the "they pretend to pay me, so I pretend to work' attitude sometime in the '70s. And he's half insane? Like man's wandering around the woods half feral for months on end in at least one of my timelines. He comes back needing anti-parasite meds, three kinds of antibiotics and Alfred going over his checkbook like 'what the fuck did you do with your dividend this time?" Like Afred's his own kind of batshit, but he's got a good head for numbers on his shoulders.

But yeah, the best way to keep him human is to let him do shit that actually appeals and keeps the depresso level below catastrophic so hockey, forestry, etc. Working in an office in Ottawa happens but it's rare, and when it goes on too long in tandem with being as lonely as he can be with only one major border, he ends up missing half his humanity and eating raw raccoon liver in the woods. Letting him slapshot Ivan in the face at the Olympics every now and again is good for the budget lmao.