#implied ukfr at end ig

[gilbertfortnite]

WISH I had motivation to write bc I have these childhood headcanons abt Francis where like. It was both great and awful, and he feels a lot of mixed emotions about it. Mostly nostalgia, even for the bad parts. Glory and whatnot. Tbfh he mostly misses the swords and impeccable aesthetic and feeling important. Compared to everyone else, he grew up very privileged, got to live the fancy life with luxurious goods and lots of praise.

But with that came a lot of cons. Extremely strict and abusive discipline, warped view of how things work (like basically saying thoughtless shit like "why are you poor? Stop being poor?"), it made him very rejection sensitive and turned him into a bully who picked on anyone weaker than him, he would justify it saying that's just how life is since his mentors/bosses were harsh on him too. Emotionally unstable, all that stuff, yeah. I don't think it's a stretch to say his punishments must've been harsh bc... C'mon look at the time period.

Over time he would be very conflicted about patriotism, what loyalty meant and what it meant to love his country- he gets to live a good quality life while many of his own people are struggling to get by, which doesn't seem right if he exists BECAUSE of them. Reality keeps beating him down and mellowing him out over the years (esp via losses lolz), he learned empathy and compassion the more he understood and loved the common man. It takes a long time for this process to occur.

In canon he has said a few things suggesting that he dislikes what he went through, although he still doesn't say what exactly it was. Telling women he truly wishes they live good fulfilling lives so they don't need to try again, when they ask him if it's hard being a country, he shrugs it off but thinks to himself that it's grueling but doesn't say that because he doesn't want to worry them. He insistently tells Antonio he wants children to be able to live comfortably without hardship, almost angrily passionate about it in his tangent. Ivan mentions it's a good thing they can forget parts of their past because it would be traumatizing to have a lot of events always on their mind, to which Francis nervously agrees.

He also cries A LOT. Like as much or more than Feli. Could argue that it's just general cowardice but he's always immediately assuming the very worst will happen to him during any hint that he might get an ass beating. A lot of his friendships also seem a bit one-sided, and he frets about how he can count on to not hate him— while also insisting that everyone loves him. I find it interesting that during the worst and best times, he always seems to go to Arthur.

Don't take all this as woobifying his gov or whatever please. I'm just applying the "funny rich guy is a bit fucked up and sad actually" trope to him.