Gah. Well, I'm not sure how well the explanation is going to end up coming through, but it's very typical Society double-think, really.
It's not like anyone outside the family knows just where Duo came from - which is something that hasn't exactly been made clear so far, since the circumstances for it to be revealed haven't come up. But you'll notice that basically everyone outside of the family simply refers to Duo as Quatre's brother, not his adopted brother...
Keeping in mind that illegitimate children weren't particularly uncommon in Society, and that it wasn't at all unusual for some lord's by-blow to end up a baron or viscount himself... Well, let's just say that if a half-grown child suddenly showed up and was "adopted" into the family with the explanation that he was the son of a distant relative, the general assumption would probably be that he was really the lord's own son, born on the "wrong side of the blanket". No social stigma whatsoever attached to that. Example: Viscount Beresford, one of the top commanders in the British army, was the Earl of Tyrone's illegitimate son.
And the soldier part of Trowa's identity had a lot more to do with Quatre's father's disapproval than the family-in-Trade part. But it wouldn't do to be too openly critical of the war, while it was socially acceptable to be elitist. Also, Quatre's own personal perceptions aside, his father wouldn't have been too thrilled with his barely-out-in-society son falling for a man - no matter how liberal his views on the subject might be in theory. While the Winner title would carry on through the eldest male in the family, the Winner name would not. Except, possibly, through Duo - who isn't really of the Winner bloodline, socially-convenient lies aside, and wouldn't have been in line for the title since he wasn't a blood relative.
In other words: while Quatre's father was extremely grateful to Duo, he wasn't grateful enough to run around proclaiming that he'd just adopted a street rat, and his disapproval of Trowa is more complicated than Trowa - or even Quatre - realizes. Iria knows a bit more, since she's always been the stand-in mother of the family, and she did try to talk his father around before, and therefore has a better understanding of the situation. Hope that answers your question - and that I can manage to work all of that into the story without doing a major info-dump. :P
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-12-29 12:08 pm (UTC)It's not like anyone outside the family knows just where Duo came from - which is something that hasn't exactly been made clear so far, since the circumstances for it to be revealed haven't come up. But you'll notice that basically everyone outside of the family simply refers to Duo as Quatre's brother, not his adopted brother...
Keeping in mind that illegitimate children weren't particularly uncommon in Society, and that it wasn't at all unusual for some lord's by-blow to end up a baron or viscount himself... Well, let's just say that if a half-grown child suddenly showed up and was "adopted" into the family with the explanation that he was the son of a distant relative, the general assumption would probably be that he was really the lord's own son, born on the "wrong side of the blanket". No social stigma whatsoever attached to that. Example: Viscount Beresford, one of the top commanders in the British army, was the Earl of Tyrone's illegitimate son.
And the soldier part of Trowa's identity had a lot more to do with Quatre's father's disapproval than the family-in-Trade part. But it wouldn't do to be too openly critical of the war, while it was socially acceptable to be elitist. Also, Quatre's own personal perceptions aside, his father wouldn't have been too thrilled with his barely-out-in-society son falling for a man - no matter how liberal his views on the subject might be in theory. While the Winner title would carry on through the eldest male in the family, the Winner name would not. Except, possibly, through Duo - who isn't really of the Winner bloodline, socially-convenient lies aside, and wouldn't have been in line for the title since he wasn't a blood relative.
In other words: while Quatre's father was extremely grateful to Duo, he wasn't grateful enough to run around proclaiming that he'd just adopted a street rat, and his disapproval of Trowa is more complicated than Trowa - or even Quatre - realizes. Iria knows a bit more, since she's always been the stand-in mother of the family, and she did try to talk his father around before, and therefore has a better understanding of the situation. Hope that answers your question - and that I can manage to work all of that into the story without doing a major info-dump. :P